Over the River
by An Preson Peepul
Summary: This one should be a breeze, he said. Stealing the timepiece from some lady's attic certainly sounded easy to Hat Kid. No one told her that the lady was crazy, or what to do if a crazy lady takes you prisoner. If she ever got out, she was going to kill the Snatcher, one way or another.
1. World 3-4: Over the River

_/-/_

_Over the river and through the woods_

_To grandmother's house we go._

_The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh_

_In the white and drifting snow._

_Over the river and through the woods_

_To grandmother's house we go._

_It stings the nose and bites the toes_

_As over the river we go._

* * *

The manor was as big as it was dark. The candles hung on the walls flickered as they burned, causing the shadows cast on the dark wooden floorboards to dance. A long red carpet lay at the center of the hallways that seemed to stretch on forever, a winding crimson path at the feet of the ornate statues standing guard to the side. Thick curtains draped limply from the ceiling, barely moving in the stifling air of the manor as they tickled the ground, almost as if they were moments away from collapsing into a lifeless heap of satin over the rich wood. Outside the giant glass windows carved out of the walls, thunder boomed, and lightning flashed, every so often leaving darker shadows that ran deeper into the manor, and the paintings beside them watched below with cold, unfeeling eyes as Hat Kid scurried through the halls, oblivious to it all.

_Stupid Snatcher,_ she thought with a scowl, boots flying over the lush carpet. Even with the red pathway spilled over the ground, her footfalls still gave off a dull thudding sound as she moved forward. _Stupid Snatcher and his dumb contracts._

Hat Kid didn't like being demoted from "fashionable and hatted explorer of planets" to "errand girl". Not one bit. But the Snatcher had promised her the timepieces, so she sucked it up and took it in stride.

Now, Hat Kid liked to think of herself as a very nice person. More friends meant more smiles for everyone, so she tried to make as many of them as she could. Even then, she had taken out his trash ("hot garbage", he called the Fire Spirits), unclogged his well (have fun trying to explore the forest when your clothes were sopping wet), and cleared out his toilet (which turned out to be a very smelly and very angry ghost), so she felt like she could be forgiven if she kinda absolutely hated him just a tiny bit. Seriously, was his hobby to make her life smelly and miserable?

Yes. It absolutely was.

_I mean, he's such a big fat JERK. So it was probably true._

Annoying purple gummy worm being annoying aside, "snooping around some lady's attic" sounded a lot different from the missions he normally gave to her. Mostly because it didn't involve saving that ghost village from trouble, but at least it didn't involve plumbing, so she wasn't complaining. The last thing she wanted was for people to start calling her "toilet girl", thank you very much.

He'd told her it would be easy, and she believed him. Just like she did those three times before. Running around some giant house sounded it. She should have known he would find a way to make her miserable, and sure enough, not five seconds after she entered the manor, one of his little minions told her that she wasn't allowed to use her hats.

No one had told her about that! The contract hadn't even said that! Of course, when she told that to the minion, he replied that it said that in the "fine" print, and when she did look closer at her contract, she noticed the "You can't use hats on this mission" written by a tiny pen just above her signature. The minion had told her it was something called a "claws", whatever that was.

_Stupid Snatcher and his dumb contracts and his dumb claws._

It was this that had her so mad right now. What if she found a really heavy button she needed to push with her ice hat? Or what if she needed to get away from some big scary monster on her scooter? Or what if someone saw her with only a mess of chocolaty-brown hair over her head? The things that could go wrong were endless! He could throw her down a well, but take away her hats and there would be heck to pay!

In the middle of her internal ranting, Hat Kid noticed one of the candles go out from the corner of her eye, and she stopped. Suddenly the hallway felt a lot colder, like that one candle had been keeping the whole room comfortably warm. A chill ran down Hat Kid.

Naturally, she went over to see what was wrong. There didn't seem to be anything weird about it, so maybe a breeze had passed over it and blown it out.

Above the candle, a small trail of smoke writhed its way toward the ceiling, like a hand clawing its way to freedom. It faded before it could get a foot away from the charred string protruding from the wax.

Hat Kid stared at it for a long time, wondering what to do. She spun around to look for anything that could help her, letting her blue eyes drift over the carpet sprawled over the floor, the candles still burning brightly against the frigid night sky, bleak and colorless. When her eyes landed on the statue, they lit up.

In one of the statue's hands was a long stick that looked like the things lamplighters used to light up lamps a long time ago. If it worked for them, maybe she could use it to light up the candle.

Slowly, Hat Kid approached the statue. The statue stared back at her with the empty eye-holes in its helmet. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was watching, Hat Kid wrapped her small hands around the long wooden stick and tugged.

She didn't expect the whole thing to come crashing down.

Hat Kid yelped as she jumped out of the way. The empty suit of armor crumpled into a pile of metal in front of her with a loud clang that echoed through the halls, and Hat Kid briefly thought about escaping before the servants came running to see what the noise was. She really hoped no one saw that, otherwise people might start calling her "that hatless girl who knocked down a statue".

Although, now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen anyone in the manor at all. For how big the place was, she thought there would be a hundred servants scrambling around to do servant things, but so far, she hadn't seen a single soul. It was almost like the place was abandoned.

Nah, that couldn't be it. The Snatcher had said a lady was living here, and she had to have a million servants that Hat Kid hadn't seen yet. Maybe they were all on lunch break.

Speaking of lunch...

A familiar tang caught her attention, and as she stuck her nose into the air, a sweet scent drifted past her nose. Coming from a door further down the hall, she could smell freshly baked cookies.

If the servants were all on lunch break, then no one would mind if she stole one or two, right?

A smile spread over her face, and she took a step down the hall.

Something crunched under her foot. She looked down. Shards of ice lay shattered beneath her boot.

It was probably something that had gotten inside through the windows. There was a lot of ice outside, after all.

She pushed it to the back of her mind as she crossed the hall. A locked door passed to her right, and Hat Kid made a mental note to investigate it later. She reached the door where the sugary smell was coming from in seconds, and with one last look over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching, she slipped inside.

As she shut the door behind her, she took a moment to take in her surroundings. It seemed she had found the manor's kitchen. The floorboards beneath her feet were the same dark wood from the hallway, the cabinets over her head painted in a shade of light green, and as she scanned the room, she found what she was looking for, a tray of cookies sitting on the countertop, on the other side of the room.

Hat Kid was on it in an instant. The countertop was too high for her to reach, but when she stood on her tippy-toes, she could just barely snake an arm over the edge, hooking her fingers around a baked treat. As she pulled the cookie back toward her, she could feel her grin stretch even wider in the anticipation of sinking her teeth into it, of tasting the sugary goodness fill her mouth, when she heard a low creak come from behind her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door begin to open.

Someone was here.

* * *

**Well, here we are again.**

**I didn't think I'd be back so soon, but then I remembered that Halloween was a thing, so to get into the mood of the holiday, I thought: what better way than to start a scary story?**

**Anyway, now that I'm here, I plan on seeing this through. Updates will happen every Thursday, so you can look forward to that.**

**I hope.**


	2. World 3-4: Bells of Notre Dame

_/-/_

_Now here is a riddle_

_To guess if you can_

_Sing the bells of Notre Dame:_

_Who is the monster and who is the man?_

* * *

The first thought that entered Hat Kid's head was, _Finally someone is here! I was starting to get lonely._

Her mouth opened; maybe to say hi, maybe to ask for their name, or maybe to ask for a cookie. It's not like she was already stealing one. Anyone who said so was lying.

Whatever it was sputtered and died before it could leave her mouth.

Something that might have been a gasp or a really sharp breath got caught in her throat. Her eyes widened beyond what even she thought was possible as they watched five, gnarled fingers slip through the door, dripping onto the floor. Ice began to blossom out from behind it, crinkling and crackling as it spread like a paste over rolls.

A cold feeling crawled up her back, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw something flicker. Hat Kid spun around, her heart pounding in her chest. For a moment she could have sworn she saw another hand waving in front of her face. She blinked, and it disappeared like she had imagined it being there at all.

Maybe she did.

Claws scraped the wood behind her, sending a shudder through her ears. She turned around slowly, sweeping her eyes over the kitchen, not such a bright and clean place anymore, before they landed on the hand grasping at the door.

Maybe she was being judgy. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions too quickly. Maybe whatever was behind that door wasn't a monster. It was just a hand, after all. It could be attached to anything. The Snatcher had a hand like that, but he had a big, goofy face with a stupid grin on it.

A candle burned brightly on a stand next to the door, the tiny flame on top flickering against the gloomy moonlight shining through the window. Even as the scary hand drew closer, it shone in the darkness, casting an orange light on the hand.

Then the hand jerked back. Its fingertips grazed the side of the candle. They barely touched, but it was enough to send the candle flying.

Hat Kid yelped as she saw the missile of burning wax hurtle toward her. She ducked hands over her head. The candle crashed into the wall behind her. Instead of catching fire, it shattered into a zillion cold, glittery pieces. Hat Kid's eyes fell to the shards of ice glimmering on the dark wooden floor.

Any happy thoughts she had instantly vanished.

Hat Kid did the only thing she could think of; she bolted. Each step she took might as well have been a thunderclap from outside the window. Only it wasn't outside, it was inside, beneath her feet. If whatever that was didn't know she was there, it did now. She might as well have shouted, "Hey Ice Thing! I'm over here! Come and eat me!"

She didn't care.

_Get out, get out, get out,_ she repeated in her head. As she dove through a door frame leading out of the kitchen, the wooden floor became a carpet. It was the obvious place to go, the only other way being into the arms of the monster. She'd seen it while she was still trying to nab a cookie from the counter, and she was prepared for the change beneath her feet.

Evidently, the floor wasn't prepared for her.

Hat Kid tried to turn. The carpet swerved with her, piling up in huge lumps as her feet slid over the carpet. A cry escaped her as the world spun around her. Only by pushing against a nearby bookshelf did she manage to avoid smashing her face against the floor. The bookshelf groaned as something slammed into its side, and books tumbled out onto the floor. Among the crashing cascade of green and red leather, Hat Kid glimpsed at a silver key. She brushed it aside as she leaped over the piled books in a single bound.

Her boots thudded against the carpet, almost as loud as a giant drum in the silence, but Hat Kid was already on her feet. Without a peek behind her, she took off toward a door on the other end of the room.

Escape. That was what it was. Wonderful, wonderful escape from this horrible place.

Hat Kid scrambled toward it. She could hear the faint crinkling of ice shards echo in her ears. The monster wasn't far behind.

Crossing her arms over her face, Hat Kid dove forward. She pushed back the door so hard, it slammed into the wall behind it and closed on its own. So very scared, Hat Kid looked around as she stumbled into the hall. The statues clutched their weapons tightly, and they seemed to glare down at her, and she felt that, the moment she turned away, they might try to chase her down.

Her eyes followed the red carpet, once clean, now stained with a pool of... she wanted to say it was water, but with the light so dim, she couldn't tell. Leading out of the kitchen door, it trailed straight up to another door down the hall.

_Nope. Definitely not going in there,_ she thought.

Then, she noticed another door. This one was right across the hall, wide and grand. A wonderful door for a wonderful way out.

Hat Kid didn't hesitate to rush across the hall. She grabbed the door handle. She turned, and with all her strength, she tried to pull it open.

The door didn't budge. Hat Kid's joy at finding an escape quickly turned to fear. She pulled again, and the door just rattled, taunting her.

It was locked. Of course it was locked. Nothing could ever be easy for her, could it? Of course her timepieces just had to land in the forest with the evil soul-eating ghost. Of course she had to be forced into becoming his errand girl, and get thrown into all of this stupid work.

The door continued to rattle. Hat Kid covered her ears with her hands, her eyebrows pulling down. She couldn't think in all this noise.

Only, she wasn't making that noise. Her hands were over her ears, not tugging at the door.

Hat Kid's eyes peeked open. Before her, the door was as still as it was before. She looked over her shoulder, scared at what she would find.

The door she had just left was shaking. The door handle twisted up and down like something would burst out at any minute, screaming and roaring like the monster it was.

From behind her cape, Hat Kid drew her umbrella. The familiar feeling of the wooden handle in her small hands usually would've brought her some comfort. Gripping her fingers around something very hard and very real reminded her that she still had something to beat back the bad guys. But not this time.

Maybe she could fight it? She had fought many things before, like that toilet, or the Mafia.

The image of the candle shattering against the wall played in her head, the sound it made as it broke into bits and scattered into the wind resounding in her skull. Candles were supposed to be soft, candles were supposed to be warm. With a single touch, it had turned to hard, cold ice that could explode into a billion tiny shards, and if she touched the monster, it would do the same to her.

No. This wasn't a monster. The toilet was a monster, with its humongous exploding fruits and smelly bubbling cauldron. This...

This was scary. This was terrifying.

The door handle stilled.

Then it started turning down at a steady pace.

Hat Kid's thoughts went a billion miles a minute. What was she supposed to do? What could she do?

_I can't leave, not when there's a timepiece still here. What to do, what to do?_

A key. She needed a key. A memory surfaced of books tumbling to the floor, and among them...

_The key! I need to get that key!_

In front of her, the door creaked. A crimson glow emerged from it, inching closer to her by the second. Hat Kid glanced up at the trail of whatever running under the kitchen door, already beginning to fade away.

It was either facing the terrifying thing or going back to the kitchen to try sneaking behind it. Against her better judgment, Hat Kid crept across the hall again, and she pushed open the door into the kitchen.

* * *

**I said this was supposed to be a scary story. I wasn't lying. Or, at least, I wasn't trying to lie about that. While this does seem like I'm re-hashing the game for here (something a lot of people seem to do in this fandom, at least), I promise you I'm not. It starts a lot like the game, but it's going to be different.**

**A strange thing I've noticed about us Hat in Time writers is that Queen Vanessa is treated like the opposite of Moonjumper; whereas we don't know much about Moonjumper, yet there are many works about him, we know quite a bit about Vanessa, and yet no one seems to care. The game really spotlights Vanessa as sort of important, given how she basically creates the Snatcher, and I think her level is one of the more interesting ones, so it really surprised me when I found out that it's the only place she appears (aside from when she danced for the credits). With this story, I want to do what _Moonshine and Spirits_ did for Moonjumper and craft a version of this character that's interesting, although this time I actually have something to expand upon instead of starting from scratch.**

**I know this stuff sounds weird since I've already kicked off the story. The thing is, this footnote was supposed to go beneath the first chapter, I just forgot to put it in. But it's here now, so hopefully, you can understand the thought process that ended up with this madness a little better.**

**Next chapter comes out Thursday.**


	3. World 3-4: A World of my Own

_/-/_

_I could listen to a babbling brook_

_And hear a song that I could understand_

_I keep wishing it could be that way_

_Because my world would be a wonderland_

* * *

The kitchen felt colder than Hat Kid remembered. The walls seemed just a tiny bit more blue, and when she stepped inside, she felt a shiver travel up her back. The icky liquid on the floor didn't help, and Hat Kid tried her best to step over the trail spreading over the wooden floorboards.

As quiet as her boots would let her be, she crept over the dark wood floor, silent as a mouse.

She stepped on a loose floorboard. It gave a low creak, and she froze.

Okay, almost as silent as a mouse. A very big, Hat Kid-sized mouse.

When it didn't appear behind the corner in a whirlwind of icy rage, Hat Kid let herself relax. She was safe. For now.

Hat Kid took a step forward. Then she took another. The floor didn't cave beneath her feet, to her relief. More careful this time, Hat Kid pressed onward. She kept her eyes glued to her feet, taking extra care not to step in any funny-looking wood planks or the weird ooze on the floor. It wasn't that it smelled yucky or anything, it just looked that way.

She came to a stop by the counter with the tray of cookies. Hat Kid didn't spare them a glance, though it was hard to ignore the sugary smell in the air. Very hard indeed. No, her eyes fell to the shards of ice on the floor beneath.

Wax was a funny thing. Out was very bumpy and slippery to touch. In the chips of ice, she could find the little bumps she always saw on the side of candles, reflecting the moonlight.

Again, Hat Kid rounded the doorway into the other room. The carpet had been pulled back from the time she almost tripped over it, clumping up in a mountain of red fabric. Hat Kid crept over to it, stepping over the fading trail spread in her path, and she relaxed as her feet sunk into the carpet, no longer having to worry about those stupid floorboards.

She looked around. This room was much more of a mess than the kitchen. To her left, a big black piano towered above her. She felt even more small and helpless standing in its shadow, and she ideally decided that she didn't like it. Bad enough that she was already being chased.

Over by the side was the pile of books from before, just as she remembered it. Seems like the thing had steered clear of that. Hat Kid glanced both ways, like she was crossing the street. The scary thing was nowhere in sight. She breathed a sigh of relief, and she crossed over to it.

Her hand dug deep into the pile of books. She had never liked books, finding the wall of words pasted over the pages quite boring to read. Their heavy weight didn't earn any favor from her, especially when she reached inside, only to find her hand unable to wiggle under the thick books.

Hat Kid hissed in frustration. She waved her arms under the books, and they came tumbling off. A whole rainbow of leather covers thudded against the carpeted floor. Thankful, the carpet was on her side this time, and it didn't make a sound.

As Hat Kid brushed away the last of the books, she found the shiny treasure lying beneath; a bright, silver key.

A victorious grin split her face. She grabbed the key with both her hands, giggling in delight. She was so happy she kissed the key, a decision she immediately regretted. Who knew metal could taste so sour? She certainly didn't.

Key in hand, Hat Kid crawled back over to the door, still slightly open from when the thing had slipped through. She could still see the glow of the candles seeping out from beneath the door. The was no shadow there. The thing had moved on. At least, that was what she hoped.

Slowly, Hat Kid opened the door. As it pulled back, more and more of the hall was revealed to her. Her eyes swept across the candles perched on the wall, then the statues, then to the long red carpet that stretched on and on and on. She poked her head out once the door was open wide enough.

Past the ornate tables and pretty paintings, she caught a glimpse of a swirling black mist. Hat Kid felt cold just by looking at it pool on the floor, and even across the hall she felt her arms crawl with goosebumps.

It was still there. Against all possible odds, it was still there. No one could have that much patience. She certainly didn't.

From the shadows, Hat Kid watched its head turn back and forth, scanning the hallway for her. She decided that the smartest idea would be to wait until it finally left. She pulled the door shut as slowly as she could, slipping her head back inside as the hallway vanished from her sight.

When Hat Kid had first gone through that door, she was too busy trying to flee for her life to remember how loud the door was. There was just no time.

Well, she had plenty of time now, and as the last of the light from the hall disappeared, the door closed with a very loud, very audible click.

At that moment, Hat Kid wanted nothing more than to brew up a concoction to blow the door to bits.

* * *

**Very short chapter today, folks. I didn't have much time to write, and I almost didn't release anything at all. Not much spook going on here, and I managed to do most of it at the last minute. I hope this doesn't seem too rough, since I didn't have time to thoroughly proofread. Deadlines are both a blessing and a curse.**

**Next chapter will be next Thursday.**


	4. World 3-4: Friends on the Other Side

_/-/_

_That's an echo, gentlemen._

_Just a little something we have here in Louisiana._

_A little parlor trick. Don't worry._

* * *

The door opened slowly, and black mist poured through. Eyes scanned across the room, over the ruffled red carpet, the pile of books scattered over the floor, and the empty bookshelf leaning against the wall.

Something moved.

A gaze snapped on to the center of the room. Nothing was there except the piano, a towering presence in the empty room. Then again, maybe the room wasn't as empty as it seemed.

She set down a foot closer to the piano. Then another. The carpet shuffled as something dragged over it, ruffling the soft material running over it. Eyes narrowed as the piano drew closer still, and in the dim candlelight, they seemed to glow.

A thud came from the left, and she registered a flash of purple.

Her glare was on the floor in an instant, arms drawn back.

They lowered as soon as her eyes fell upon a thick purple tome lying open on the tome. It was just a book. Hair spilled over as she tilted her head. She stared at it for the longest time, as if it could tell her what it had seen.

Behind her, something moved. A light squeak was the only warning she had, the first raindrop of a storm.

Her head whipped back just in time to catch the piano lid fall. The heavy wooden surface whistled as it tumbled downward, before it slammed shut with a resounding crash. She flinched, not immune to being startled, and the floor trembled.

She stopped and stared at it. Outside, thunder boomed, and the window cast a brief shadow over the floor. Her eyes went to the window, and she gradually regained her composure. Pianos didn't close by themselves. Her eyes began to glow just a little bit brighter, and she crept toward the instrument.

The only sound in the room was the shuffling of the carpet beneath her feet. Each step she took brought her closer. Her fingers trembled. A freezing mist started to roll off her palms as her hands unfurled wider and wider. She reeled back. The world seemed to hold its breath. The moment it let it go, she lunged forward, arms scraping on the floor as she ducked down beneath the piano.

A thin yellow book sat beside one of the legs. There was no one there. Her eyes flicked up. She scanned the bottom of the piano and noticed that, in certain places, the wooden board on the bottom had rotted away.

Momentarily, her gaze slipped to the books lying on the floor. They were scattered about the room, no longer confined to the pile sitting at the base of the bookshelf. It was likely that when someone had tossed the books around, one of the books had hit the piano and fell through a hole in the bottom.

But that still meant someone had been in this room after she had left. Her fists clenched. She hadn't caught anyone when she'd went through this room the first time. Maybe they had found a hiding place. Maybe they were still here.

Gradually, she pulled herself out from under the piano. As she regained her composure, her shoulders fell. Her head twitched. A shudder passed through her body, and she let out a long, rattled breath. Then, she turned toward the kitchen, shuffling along the carpet as she moved.

Vanessa was on the hunt.

* * *

Hat Kid watched it head into the kitchen with wide, owlish eyes, waiting for it to disappear behind the bend. She had waited behind the open door, pressed tightly to the wall like one of those iron-thingies she used to flatten her clothes. She had hoped it wouldn't find her–she didn't have time to pick a better hiding spot, and all it would have taken was for it to just turn around.

But it seemed, for now, the world was happy to let her get her way.

She let out a sigh of relief, and she slumped back against the wall. As her cape curled up on the floor, a shiver passed through her. There was no time to relax now, though; she needed to get moving as quickly as she could.

Taking a peek around the room, Hat Kid waited to make sure the coast was really clear before she finally stepped out. She clutched her key close to her chest, afraid that it might fall through her clammy hands, and, scanning the room one last time, she slunk out into the hall.

A low rumble came from outside. The soft orange light on the floor shook as the candles hanging over Hat Kid's head trembled, and she stopped to sweep her eyes over each and every one of them. Maybe they felt as scared as she did.

She shook the thought out of her head before she could come up with entire life stories for the candles in the room. She didn't have time for distractions, as much as she wanted to forget all the terrifying things happening right now.

Scurrying across the floor like a cute little mouse, Hat Kid approached the door with caution. Doors were always locked for a reason, and usually, there were a gazillion traps behind locked doors, just in case someone ignored the lock on it. It's what she did with her locked doors, and if anyone got upset about having a bag of flour tossed in their face, then they shouldn't have tried to open her secret cookie stash.

The key slid into the lock easily enough. It took a bit of rattling around to get the key fully inside, but she did it. She swung the handle down and pulled it open one inch at a time. Any second now, a million snakes and spiders would jump out into the hall, or maybe one of those funny big red gloves would snap out and hit her in the face.

Only, it didn't. To her surprise, nothing happened.

Hat Kid swung the door open a little more, just enough so that she could poke her head inside. All that she could find inside were a bunch of weird tables, and shelves stacked high and stuffed full with boxes that had silly labels on them, like "Evidence", "Mischief", or "Stabby Island".

Oh, and there was ice too. Lot's of it, bunched up and sprouting lots of very sharp and very pointy sticks. All of it looked quite dangerous, like she could cut herself if she touched it. And to the left side on the other side of the room, there was another door, holding who knows what behind it.

It was then that Hat Kid was starting to have second thoughts. This room looked very dangerous, with all the spiky bits poking around, not to mention the boxes that probably held all kinds of scary tools. Who knew what scary things it used this room for. There was another room down the hall; maybe it wouldn't be as scary as this one.

Just as Hat Kid stepped away, she heard a creak from behind her. A burning feeling scorched her back, and she suddenly felt very cold. She didn't need to turn around to know that it was opening the kitchen door. She stayed very still, and her eyes snapped shut. Silently, she hoped it wouldn't be able to see her.

"Who's there? Who dares enter my home?"

That hope was dashed in an instant. It had seen her.

There was only one way to go now.

Hat Kid broke into a run, it hot on her heels. The room passed in a blur. Behind her, she heard it give a raspy breath.

"Come back here, I won't hurt you," it called out.

She didn't dare turn around to look. She just kept running and running. In her panic, she didn't watch where she was going.

A bump in the carpet snagged her foot. Hat Kid yelped. The floor rushed up to meet her, and she hit the carpet with a thump. She pushed herself off the floor when she noticed a shadow inch closer to her. Panic seized her right there.

_No! Please, not like this!_

Another wave of energy surged through her. As fast as she could, Hat Kid scrambled to her feet. Black mist curled around her, but she broke through it. She took off toward the door in a burst of speed. She felt something brush against her cape, and a chill ran through her. It was brief, but she ran even faster before it could get ahold of her. It wasn't going to catch her; she wouldn't let it.

Hat Kid stumbled through the door. To her immense relief, there was just a flight of stairs behind it. Stairs going up, bringing her closer to the attic, to the timepiece waiting inside. Maybe they even led to the attic, and she could finally get out of this horrible place!

Her cape twirled behind her as she flew up the stairs. The door at the top approached her quickly, like it was running to meet her. She let it, pushing open the door and swinging it shut behind her.

She was safe for now, with her on one side of the door, and it on the other. A relieved smile broke through her face, and she sighed as all the energy finally left her.

Only, there was a new problem for her to solve now. Instead of the attic, as she had hoped, she found herself in yet another hallway, with even more doors holding who knows what behind them. Through the door she was leaning against, she could hear a faint crackling. It was still chasing after her.

She didn't have much time to choose.

* * *

**I don't know when I got the idea to change all the chapter titles to Disney songs, I just thought it'd be an interesting theme to keep the chapter titles based on, considering Vanessa was a princess (and also for other reasons that'll be revealed later).**

**Life's been busy for me lately, so I'm going to have to change the update schedule a bit to give me more time to work on this kind of stuff. I'll update this story every Friday instead of every Thursday. I'm sorry if it messes up anyone's schedule, but hopefully, with the extra time, I'll be able to improve the quality of my work.**

**Anyway, the next chapter will be out on the 29th.**


	5. World 3-4: My Lullaby

_I've been exiled, persecuted_

_Left alone with no defense_

_When I think of what that brute did_

_I get a little tense_

* * *

The door closed behind her with a soft click, and Hat Kid slumped against it, breathing a sigh of relief. She hadn't really thought about her choice of door, she'd just picked the first one she saw. It was a risky choice, but she hadn't had time to make any better ones.

That seemed like a weird trend for her nowadays. She never had time to sit back in her spaceship and eat her cookies, it was always "come overthrow the Mafia with me", or "come blow up a train with me". Yes, it was fun, but sometimes she just wanted to take a break, get some sleep so she'd have the energy to do more fun things.

"Where did you go?" she heard echoing in the hall. "Why did you run away?"

Although there was a big red door between her and the hall, Hat Kid could almost feel its breath on her back. Something cold touched her hand. She whirled around, but it was just the metal doorknob.

"Why don't you come out? I'll give you a cookie."

Its voice bounced around the walls, ringing over and over again in her ears. The walls felt like they were inching closer with each echo, and she began to feel very trapped. Her eyes never leaving the door, Hat Kid backed away, one slow step at a time.

Hat Kid didn't understand many things. She didn't understand why the Mafia were such big jerks for one, or why Mustache Girl thought it was a good idea to mess with time. She didn't understand why the Conductor kept blowing up his train when DJ Grooves said he could do the same thing with "Cee Jee Eye", or why DJ Grooves let his penguins sleep on set while the Conductor sent them home so they wouldn't get in the way. What she did understand, however, was that taking up its offer of cookies would be a very bad idea. Who knows what weird things it put in its cookies?

Then, something soft and squishy grabbed her from behind. She jumped, ready to bolt like a bunny from danger. The bed behind her just settled down, fluttering at the sudden disturbance.

A frown crossed her face. She was jumpier than a Mad Crow on sugar, and that annoyed her a little. She was a hat-wearing time-traveling adventurer, for crying out loud. All the others probably faced scarier things (At least that was what she was told). She would get out. She had to.

"Are you here?" The words sent a cold feeling down her neck. A rattling came from the hall, so loud that it was like the knob in front of her was shaking. Out of the corner of her eye, Hat Kid glanced at the bed. The edges of the blanket flickered up, inviting her to hide beneath the covers.

The offer was tempting. Switching her eyes between the door and the blanket, she took a step toward the bed. Then another.

Then before she could take another, she heard a loud squeak. A moment passed. "Oh," she heard it say. "Nobody's here. How sad."

Hat Kid stepped to the side again. This time, she bumped into something. It rattled above her, and she spun around just in time to catch a painting about to fall to the floor.

As she pushed it back onto the desk, Hat Kid took a good, long look at it. At the front was a boy with brown hair, standing straight with his hands on his hips, grinning with confidence as the manor loomed in the distance.

Another person stood to his right, wearing a bright red coat streaked with green. A pale blue mask covered most of his face, painted with the biggest grin Hat Kid had ever seen. The blue eyes peeking through seemed to share that joy, although, when she looked just a teensy bit closer, something seemed a little off.

To the boy's left, however, Hat Kid could just barely see the face of a girl, peeking out from behind his red cape. A few locks of blonde hair spilled past the boy's cloak, shimmering brightly in the painting. What caught Hat Kid's attention, however, was her eyes. The way she looked at the boy in front of her, and the way he looked at her; it was just like those lovey-dovey shows she saw Mustache Girl watching on her TV. At the time, Hat Kid had been none too happy about it, especially since her "Recommended" videos reeked of slobbery kisses days after Mustache Girl had left. Seeing it in real-life, though–it was just so...

Cute!

Hat Kid had to keep herself from fawning over the pair, a big problem with her great love of all things adorable. She tried to remind herself that she was trapped in a scary mansion with a scary thing. Going down that train of thought, though, brought up a weird connection.

There was a bed in the middle of the room. Monsters didn't need beds since Hat Kid knew they didn't sleep. In all the scary stories Hat Kid had heard, monsters always attacked super late into the night, so they probably didn't even have bedtimes. There was also the picture on the desk, showing three very-not scary people standing in front of the scary manor.

Someone was living here, someone who was a regular person. But who was crazy enough to live with a monster?

_Probably the same person who thought it was a good idea to share a forest with a nosy jerk like the Snatcher, _Hat Kid thought with a pout. _Seriously, why did he send me to snoop around some old lady's house?_

Then an idea came to her. What if the person _was_ the monster?

_Nah, that couldn't be it,_ she said to herself, instantly dismissing the thought. _Besides, people don't turn things to ice. Can they?_

Well, there was the Mafia boss guy who could shoot energy beams, and the other Mafia guys could form a ball. Mustache Girl had a mustache, and that wasn't normal.

_But those were all harmless things. So what if these "Earth humans" have superpowers? They're harmless, like salt in cookies!_

Still, she couldn't ignore the possibility. She was an adventurer, so she had to think about everything!

Maybe the person was the lady he had mentioned. But that couldn't be it since the only girl in the picture was so shy and adorable.

Then maybe the girl was the lady, and she accidentally rented out her house to a monster. Hat Kid considered this for a bit, before tossing that aside as well. She might not have understood how "letting people pay you every now and then to use your stuff" worked, but she was pretty sure you couldn't accidentally do it.

_Or maybe the lady is Mask Guy._ Hat Kid's gaze moved over to the masked person on the other side of the boy. From where she was standing, she couldn't exactly tell if they were a boy or a girl, so anything was possible.

_I mean, something is definitely weird about Mask Guy's eyes,_she thought. _I__ wouldn't be surprised if she was a bad guy in disguise._

This was the idea that made the most sense to her, and she nodded to herself. As she did, a bright glint caught her eye over the bed. She glanced up, and, to her annoyance, found a golden key balanced on the edge of the bed frame.

This sight irritated her to no end. Who even put their keys up that high, anyway? Unless you were super tall, no one would be able to reach it.

_Although I might need it later,_ she said to herself. _It doesn't look like any other useful things are lying around, so I'd better go to another room._

Quickly she looked around to find a way to get it down. Her eyes went to the desk, then to the closet next to the bed, and she plotted out a path for her to climb. A smile spread over her face, and she straightened her hat.

Then, she leaped up onto the desk, sending papers flying to the floor. She stumbled a bit, almost falling over the edge. Before she could fall, she pushed off the wood and latched onto the closet. She didn't waste a second to scamper up it, clinging to knobs with her small hands. Beneath her, the closet shivered, and with a grunt, Hat Kid jumped off the closet.

She sailed through the air, throwing her hands out to grab the key. She missed, and the tips of her fingers only brushed the key. It was enough, however, to send the key toppling over the edge. A grin split her face, and she cheered as she watched the key fall to the carpet. She hit the ground with a muffled thud. She snatched the key out of the air before it could do the same, however, and she pulled it into her chest like it could fly away at any second.

Then gravity finally got ahold of the closet, and it fell on the desk with a loud crash. Hat Kid gave a startled squeak. She tried to get up, but as she was pushing herself off the ground, the painting from before flew off the desk and onto her, pinning her down again.

Lying on the floor with a fancy painting on top of her, Hat Kid felt a bit silly. She tried to push it off. As more of the painting came into view, though, something stopped her.

There was something different about the painting this time. She racked her brain for why, drawing her eyebrows down in a frown. The Mask Guy looked the same, as did Prince Handsome. Princess Shy, though... she had moved closer.

Moving paintings? That was a little creepy, but there were a bunch outside in the forest. Besides, she had bigger issues to worry about right now.

After a bit of effort, Hat Kid pushed the painting off her. As she got to her feet, she set herself to the next thing she needed to do. If she wanted to get back into that hall, she needed to make sure it (and she was sure it was Mask Guy) was distracted. The loud crash she had made when she brought down the closet was one way of doing it, but since she was still in the room, she needed to make sure she was hidden when it got here.

A rattling came from behind the door. When the noise reached her ears, Hat Kid hoped that it was coming from another door down the hall, but the world seemed to have had enough of giving her free passes, and when she turned to face the door, she found the doorknob shaking like a lost child in the snow.

* * *

**And now, back to our regularly scheduled me, returning to you all and bringing this up at the literal stroke of midnight. I just woke up at 11pm, realized that I forgot to upload this chapter, got out of bed, and put this up.**

**I'll be brief, since I actually want to get some sleep.**

**Also, I put up cover art. Yay.**

**Next chapter is December 13th.**


	6. World 3-4: Love is an Open Door

The black mist came first, oozing through the door like frosting stuck in the tube. It slithered over the carpet, spreading itself all over the room until all Hat Kid could see on the floor was darkness. She tried to stay away, but the black mist swept up after her, wrapping its icy tendrils around her ankles, trying to draw her in.

"Where are you~" it called. Its voice trilled like a bird, but the sound of it sent goosebumps up Hat Kid's neck.

The hand came next. Four gnarly claws slipped out from behind the door. They wrapped around the edge of it, scrabbling against the wood with a horrible screeching sound. The high pitched noise snapped Hat Kid back into reality, and she realized that she had been standing around like a dummy.

Without a second thought, she dove under the bed. The blanket wooshed aside for her, but so did the black mist. As soon as she came to a stop she found herself drowning in it.

She took a deep breath. Black fog poured into her mouth, and she had to hold back a cough. It filled her eyes as well, swishing and swirling like she was inside a big pot of black soup.

She needed to get out. A desperate spark in her chest, Hat Kid pulled herself forward on her hands and knees. She tried to keep herself from breathing in the dust under the bed. Who knew beds could be so dirty?

_When I get back to my ship, I need to clean under my bed, _she thought.

It was slow, though. For every second she dragged her arms over the floor, for every inch she cleared, she found it harder and harder to hold her breath. Her lungs itched for air, but if she got another mouthful of dust, she'd cough. If she coughed, it would hear her, if it heard her, it would find her, and if it found her she'd be dead.

Then, there was light. Her lungs burning now, Hat Kid found one last surge of strength. She crawled faster. With each time she pulled herself forward, the black mist disappearing behind her bit by bit, until at last, she dragged herself from out under the bed, taking in the sweet, sweet air.

As she gasped for air, Hat Kid snuck a look over her shoulder, just to see if it was there. Through the black mist pooling in the corner, she could just make out a hunched figure, shaking like a strawberry bush in a snowstorm.

That was all she needed to see. Careful not to male a sound, Hat Kid turned back to the door. Black mist clung to her ankles, rising and falling as she tip-toed across the room. It pulled on her boots, and her every step was a chore, bringing her closer to the door inch by inch. And all the while, the thing behind her kept its place at the back of her mind. All it had to do was turn around.

Her hands grasped the edge. With a surge of joy, she pulled herself in the doorway. Feeling the sweet sugar rush of victory, Hat Kid had to hold herself back from giggling in relief. She instead settled for sticking out her tongue.

It straightened suddenly, almost like it felt her do that. Hat Kid decided then would be a good time to disappear back into the hall.

Pressing her back against the wall, Hat Kid gave a gigantic sigh. She was really in a pickle, and a scary one at that.

_I'd sell my soul if I never have to see Mask Guy again, if that was Mask Guy,_ She thought. Then she frowned, realizing that she didn't have a soul anymore. _For a guy who eats souls, he sure doesn't look like he has one. Must be all the contracts he makes._

After Hat Kid caught her breath, she looked down the hall. The first time she had come through, she had Mask Guy on her tail, did this was the first time she got a really good look at it.

The first thing she noticed was the two locked doors at the ends of the halls. She glanced at the key in her hands and decided that she only had time to look into one.

But one of the doors was super scary, with cobwebs and spiders and lots and lots of dust, while the other had a board nailed over it. The choice was obvious.

Hat Kid brushed aside the cobwebs and slid the key into the lock. She wasn't stupid. The spooky decorations were obviously just things Mask Guy put to scare her away from the right door. She wasn't four.

Taking a deep breath, Hat Kid pulled the door open. It creaked. Loudly.

She winced, and she glanced over her shoulder. When nothing appeared from behind her, she allowed herself to relax. She threw one last glance around the hall, before she slipped inside.

And right into a bunch of stairs. The house only had two floors, a basement, and an attic. She'd already gone through the basement, and this was the second floor. That could only mean one thing.

Hat Kid burst into a grin. She could finally get out of here. With excitement, she began to climb up the staircase.

* * *

**Short chapter this week. Time crunch, no time to explain.**

**Speeding things up a bit here. I decided we were taking too long with canon fodder (get it?).**

**Next chapter will be on the 20th.**


	7. World 3-4: Someday My Prince Will Come

_Someday my prince will come_

_Someday we'll meet again_

_And away to his castle we'll go_

_To be happy forever I know_

* * *

A soft blue glow washed over Hat Kid as she crossed over the last step. The attic. She was finally here.

To her disappointment, it was a lot more empty than she thought it would be. She thought attics were supposed to be filled with useless things you never used. This one was just filled with boxes, stacked over each other in towers that reached up to the wooden beams stretched across the ceiling.

Wait. Oh.

Hat Kid lifted the lid of one box. As she expected, it was crammed with some old rusty do-hickey that she had no idea how to use, but was probably useless.

_Ice pops?_ she read off a label. _What was that? Popped ice? Bubbles made of ice?_

She closed the box with a sigh, and she moved on to the next box. She opened the lid, a little more hopeful, but all she found inside was a bunch of rusty chains that clinked and rattled when she shook the box.

So far, nothing. Hat Kid pouted. With all these boxes this was going to take forever. She moved down the attic a bit more, and pulled another lid open. The label taped over the inside said kitchenware, but beneath it was just a bunch of-

Hat Kid slammed the lid shut, eyes wide.

_I didn't know someone could own so many different kinds of knives. What kind of food would you cut with so many knives?_ she thought.

Unless these knives weren't meant to be cutting food. Hat Kid shuddered as she moved onto the last box.

Hat Kid closed her eyes, expecting something nasty like blood and guts. She yanked it open without a second to think. When nothing jumped out at her, she peeked open one eye.

Paper. It was just paper. Hat Kid giggled, happy something was going right for once.

These were not any random slips of paper, though; these were letters! One part of her said it wouldn't be a good idea to stop and read the letters. The part of her that won, though, told her that there might be some valuable information hidden in there. For her research, of course.

She picked a random letter from the pile and started to read. The line at the very top was covered in inky black scratches. The rest of the letter was clear, though. The strange curly thing whoever wrote this had done with their writing was weird, but if she squinted really hard, she could understand what whoever wrote this was trying to say.

_Mother tells me that running a kingdom will be very hard. Apparently, as a princess, I'm supposed to do more than get kidnapped by a dragon and locked away in a tower to wait for my prince to rescue me. Mother tells me that a princess isn't supposed to do that at all. She says I need to learn more leader things. I thought I told her that reading is all I want to learn, but she says I need to learn how to talk to people better. "Negoshiashun", she calls it. Talking to people is dumb. If she wants to teach someone how to "negoshiashun", she should teach_ (then a big black stain) _. He talks all the time, and when we grow up and I marry him, he can do "negoshiashun" for me._

This person was a princess? Well, this was a big house, so it wasn't surprising. And with all her talk about romantic-ness and marriage, this had to be the blonde girl from the painting.

The time piece was still somewhere in the attic, so she still needed to find it. But... it couldn't hurt to read one more letter, could it? It wasn't like that would take a long time.

Taking a look around, Hat Kid put the letter back in the box and took out another one. She moved away from the box of letters, closing it with a click, and as she shuffled around the other boxes in the room, she started to read. This letter was much neater since it didn't have all the messy curls the one before had, so it was easier for her to understand.

The reason why was listed at the top.

_...thinks my writing is too hard to read, since he can't read fancy letters. I'm going to try normal writing, just for today. It's been a month already since_ (then an inky spill over the paper) _moved in with my family. He's adjusted very well, and I love him already. I wish he would stay forever, but he says he has something he needs to do. He won't tell me what, although it sounds super mysterious, so he probably has someone he needs to rescue from an evil dragon. He did tell me I need to stand up more for myself, but that sounds too hard._

_As long as I have_ (scribble scribble) _, I think I'll be fine._

Hat Kid nodded along as she read. As she stepped beside another box, she flipped over the letter. There was some elaborate signature over the back, but that was way too fancy for her to read, so it might as well be blank.

She brushed aside one of the smaller crates. And that's when she saw a familiar blue glow, sitting a bit away from her. There was the time piece, waiting for her in the black... mist...

From behind her, Hat Kid heard the door snap shut. She hadn't closed the door behind her. She was just so excited about finding the attic, she just forgot to do it.

And now she was going to pay.

The dark mist rolled in all around her, swallowing her in a fog. It blinded her, and the room around her completely vanished, like she was floating in the middle of a void. The blue glow of the time piece was still there, but it was only a tiny spot in a gigantic space of empty darkness.

_Rasp._

The scratchy sound tickled Hat Kid's ear, faintly coming far behind her. It was that sound that forced her to move. She tried to take a step. The black mist pulled her foot down, and she was only able to get her foot a few inches forward.

_Rasp._

The tingling in her ear reached her cheek. Hat Kid tried again. Grabbing her foot, she tugged it up. A floorboard creaked. It might have been her. It might have been it. She pulled herself forward. The black mist pulled back, like sticky strawberry jam all over her legs. She needed to move, but the mist didn't seem to understand it. So she would just have to make it.

_Wheeze._

Hat Kid felt like she was choking herself, with all the black mist she sucked in. She yanked on her legs harder. The fog let go of them with a pop. She stumbled, her footsteps echoing in the darkness grabbing hold of her with its dark, foggy fingers. The blue light got closer, but so did the scratchy sound. Hat Kid flung her hand out to grab it.

_Rasp._

Her fingers combed through the air. She wasn't close enough. But it could be close enough to her. With the mist pooling on the floor and all around her, she would never know. It wouldn't be, though. It just couldn't! She needed to get home! She couldn't get caught, not here. With all her strength, Hat Kid took one more step.

The black mist swirled around her, like it was trying to hold her back. She broke through, and she reached out for the blue light. This was it!

Her small fingers brushed something. Hope flared in her. It was warm and smooth, just like the time piece. Only, time pieces didn't move. And whatever she was touching, it moved.

"Found you~"

Hat Kid pulled back her hand with a gasp. The mist blew away just a tiny bit, revealing the tiny ice crystals behind it. Its breath, ice-cold, swept through the hair on her hatless head. She looked up, and she immediately regretted it. A cold feeling crept up her face.

Two glowing red eyes looked back, questioning, curious. Cold.

* * *

**Thought I was spending too much time going over what we got. This is the end of that part of the story.**

**Christmas break is next week, and I might be busy next Friday, so the next chapter will most likely be two weeks from now. Then again, I could write the next chapter in advance and post it on Friday.**


	8. World 3-?: Reflection

_/-/_

_Who is that girl I see_

_Staring straight, back at me_

_Why is my reflection_

_Someone I don't know_

* * *

The floor was hard. And very cold. Without the sun coming up through the window to warm it, it became very stiff and brittle, like waffle cones left out on a winter night. A light push would make it bend a tiny bit, but any harder and it would complain about almost breaking.

Hat Kid could tell all this because, for what felt like the past million years, she had been lying on it. She'd been on it for so long, her back probably had little rings where all the holes were. Strangely, it wasn't the most uncomfortable place to wake up, although every time she moved, the floor would cool under her again. It was probably best to just stay still under the nice, warm blanket, wrapping her in the softest hug she'd ever had, slowly... bringing her back... to... sleep...

Hat Kid sat straight up. Her eyes flew wide, and she glanced down at the blanket pooled over her legs.

_When did this get here?_ she thought. _I don't remember having a blanket in my attic._ She paused. Then palmed her face. _This isn't my attic, is it?_

Her gaze lifted to the room around her. Unfamiliar wooden crates towered over her, cast in a frozen, deep blue glow by the moon, stuck in the same place in the sky. They glared down at her like angry guardians, and she shrunk away from their imaginary frowns.

_I'm still in that old lady's attic._

Her hands crept up to her neck. The last thing she remembered was cold creeping up to swallow her face, and she was relieved to find all that cold was gone. It had decided not to kill her, which was a huge relief.

She glanced around the room, just in case it left the time piece for her too. To her disappointment, she had no such luck. There was no soft blue glow leaking out of the corner, only an icy blue glaze over the walls and floors.

The time piece was lost somewhere in the manor, which meant she had to go back downstairs to look for it. And that meant she had to face it again.

She pulled her blanket up to her face and glanced around the room. Her nails scraped against the wooden floor. Just thinking about it made her feel queasy.

Hat Kid let her eyes wander around the attic. She looked up and over the crates. She glanced out the window. She looked over anything and everything, so long as she didn't have to look at the stairs leading downstairs.

But she couldn't stay here forever.

A growl shattered the frozen silence around her, and time started again too suddenly. She jumped, gripping at the edges of her blanket so tightly her knuckles turned white, only to realize a moment later that it was just her stomach telling her it wanted food.

She needed to get out of here. She couldn't keep running on an empty stomach. Besides, if she got hungry, it might catch up to her.

Pushing the blanket off her, Hat Kid started for the door. The floor didn't budge as she stepped over it, like the boards were frozen in place. Not that she minded. If it kept it from knowing she was awake, she wouldn't complain.

The stairs were a different matter. She stepped down one. It creaked. Loudly. She winced. Going down was a lot harder than going up, especially since one bad step, one stubbed toe could send her falling down. She looked down, down at all the steps she'd have to go over before she could get to the bottom.

Slowly, she let her boot press down on the next step. It bent a little, but, to her relief, it didn't make a peep. She took another step. This time, it groaned. It couldn't have been any louder than a honeydrop, but to her, it might have been thunder.

The muffled thunderclap that came a second after didn't make her feel any better.

Step by step, she made her way down the stairs. For every creak, for every wooden snap, for every sound that broke the silence, they only got more and more dangerous as she got closer and closer to the door. The moonlight behind her crawled away, left on the higher steps. Every step deeper into the darkness she took was a new test for how much she trusted her feet to find solid ground.

It could be waiting to pounce on the other side. And if it wasn't, maybe the last footfall had told it she was coming. She would never know, not with that big door in her way.

Then her feet touched down on the floor. The dark around her strangled every last bit of light around her, yet her hopes soared. She could barely see the outline of her tiny hands, even as she waved them in front of her face. She had an easier time seeing her boots, but that was only because of the light slipping through from beneath the door.

Since she couldn't see the door, she had to brush her hands over it. She felt bumps and ridges run up and down the wood, in what might have been fancy patterns in the light. When she felt cold metal beneath her fingers, she closed them around it and, very carefully, opened it just a crack.

The hallway she found beyond it was completely unfamiliar. Instead of a wall, the door opened into a big room. The walls glowed purple, so different from the deep red on the second floor. At the center of the room, a monstrous glass mess hung from the ceiling over a gap in the floor, revealing a floor just beneath it.

Hat Kid frowned, confused. This wasn't how she remembered the second floor looking at all. She glanced back. The same old attic loomed behind her.

_Did someone move the rooms around when I wasn't looking?_ She growled at the thought. That meant she'd come all the way up here for nothing.

This place was so weird. Her head felt funny just thinking about it. She needed to get out and think through things again, and once she was ready she could come back.

Hat Kid turned her attention back to the room before her. She looked around for a door or a window, any kind of exit, really. The only one she could find was a door on the opposite side of the room, directly across from her.

Careful not to make a sound, Hat Kid slipped through the door. Her footfalls were light, barely making a sound as she scuttled over the wooden floor. For once, the floorboards cooperated with her, staying still as her boots tapped over their surface.

It wasn't quiet enough.

"Where are you going?" a voice called.

A burst of yellow flew out from the wall. Hat Kid's breath turned crystal in her mouth, freezing it shut. Her back foot brushed against the border of yellow and purple. Any closer, and it would've been caught in the light.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't hide from me," the voice spoke again, fine like powdered snow, if not just as cold.

The shape of a person appeared in the doorway. Hat Kid watched it with wide eyes. It was just a shadow, she kept telling herself. Shadows couldn't see.

Then again, she'd fought an evil toilet.

Only when the shadow sunk back into the light did she let her shoulders fall.

_No, I can't stop,_ she thought, hitting the side of her head. _I need to go before it tries to jump out at me._

Hat Kid turned and continued forward. Somewhere in the room, something rattled. It echoed off the walls, bouncing back at her like mocking laughter. Her eyes wandered over the walls, as if she could find where the sound was coming from. And that's when she noticed the claw marks.

Deep scars ran over the wallpaper. The edges glittered like sugar. Curious, Hat Kid reached out and traced her fingers over it. It felt cold and stiff, not at all like paper. Her face twisted into a worried frown, and she pulled away.

Around the tearing was a thin layer of ice.

Another flash bit at her heels, another shadow swimming through it. "Why do you want to go? You can tell me. I won't be mad." This time, the voice was softer. Soft like quicksand, like it sucked in the air around it and never let it go.

Beside her, a million Hat Kids appeared on the glass lantern thing, every single one of them walking, and yet getting nowhere, like they were trapped in tiny ice bubbles of their own. With every step, the door grew a little larger, but it seemed just as far as before. She knew she was getting closer, but it just didn't feel like it.

"Say something."

A window of light lit up in front of her. The shape dove in from the side this time, hair flying out from behind it.

Hat Kid gasped and tried to stop herself, but the floor refused to hold her feet. The soles of her boots slid out from under her.

"Say something, dammit!" the voice, once so soft, rose to a shriek. It rattled inside her skull, piercing the calm with sharp, angry nails.

Hat Kid's hands flew out, desperate to keep her from falling. The floor rushed up to meet her. A foot slipped under her before she could hit it, and she barely stumbled past.

In a blur, the shadow threw itself to the other side. Hat Kid heard a metal crash, like pots and pans falling onto each other. Of course, it wouldn't have any use for pots and pans. Those were probably some strange torture tools it had lying around.

The light behind her froze, and a glimmering blue washed over it. As she tried to take back some tiny sense of balance, Hat Kid glanced over her shoulder.

Where the light had flowed in, a giant spike of ice stood in its place, leaving the wall behind a mess of splinters. A glow pulsed from within, almost as if the light was trapped inside it. Each and every one of the shards jutting out from it glinted, like many tiny knives hanging off one big knife.

A hard lump trapped itself in Hat Kid's throat. Any second slower and that could have been her, standing right there. Trapped inside the ice or worse.

She took a step back. She turned around. And she started walking a little faster.

It hadn't got her yet, hadn't even told her it had seen her yet. That didn't change the fact she needed to get out before anything terrible like that could happen to her.

"Why don't you want to stay..." As suddenly as it rose into a cloud of anger, the voice came down in a drizzle of sorrow. "Is it my cooking? Is it all the flowers? What am I doing wrong?"

The voice was all around her now, the sound of her footsteps fading like the thrum of her heart beneath it all. Overhead, she spotted the moon watching her from a window high above. Moonlight dusted the path before her. Around the door, a faint white glow lit it out for her to see. She could feel hope rising in her chest as she came closer and closer.

The metal handle shone silver. Calling for her to grab it. To pull it open.

"Don't leave me alone!" The drizzle turned to a rainfall, the sorrow deepened to a wail. "I'll apologize! I'll never speak again! I'll still love you!"

Hat Kid reached for the door.

Behind her, she heard a creak.

Her fingers closed around the handle.

"Don't leave me all alone with–"

The door flew open.

Hat Kid yelped. She flew forward and tumbled right into a sheet of green. The green folded over her, and she felt something wrap around her back.

Then the very same voice, its voice, spoke, and the rain froze and disappeared into an icy mist.

"Oh hello. What do we have here?"

* * *

**It's certainly been a long time, hasn't it?**

**Yes, I know I've left this story untouched for far too long, and I'm very sorry about that. I just couldn't seem to find any way to continue this, since anything I wrote just didn't seem to click with the whole "horror" aspect of the story. It all just seemed far too mundane for my tastes.**

**So, I took last week off writing and decided to plan out my stories. I found that everything past Hat Kid's capture just seemed directionless, so I decided to cut that out and re-do it. I've been busy with my other stories, but with the rest of the story now charted out, I have a roadmap and a destination.**

**Honestly, I don't think I've been this excited to write this story for a while. I just hope it lasts.**

**The Friday updates will be returning. At least, that'll be the goal. I wish you all well, and remember to stay safe.**


	9. World 3-?: Cruella de Vil

_/-/_

_The curl of her lips_

_The ice in her stare_

_All innocent children_

_Had better beware_

_She's like a spider waiting_

_For the kill_

_Look out for Cruella De Vil_

* * *

The woman above her didn't look like a monster. Her blonde hair, rolling down in waves over her shoulders, splayed out everywhere like an angry tangled mess. Her face, lit by the lantern she held in one of her gloved hands, showed off a healthy glow, from her dazzling green eyes to her elegant nose to her teeth that sparkled like snow. Everything up to her neck was hidden in a dark green sheet, lined with golden thread. Unless she was hiding something underneath that big cloak, she looked perfectly human.

Hat Kid knew it was all fake. Beneath that pure, silky skin was a frigid monster.

Her heart banged against her ribcage. Her legs itched for her to run. She wanted to run. She was sure the woman could see it on her face. Yet she kept her boots frozen to the floor.

She couldn't run, not with it so close to her.

A million scenes played out in her head. A million times, she would turn around and run. A million times, a gnarled, bony hand, covered in warts and wrinkles would snap out from its cloak and grab her arm. Ice would creep up her coat, swallow up her head, and leave her an adorable little ice statue in the middle of the hall.

_Maybe if I stay reeeally still, it won't see me. Maybe it only sees moving things, like in that scary movie about dinosaurs,_ she thought.

"I don't think I've seen you here before," it muttered, tilting its head. "Have we met?"

It could have been talking to anyone else, but its eyes stayed firmly planted on her, like icicles stabbing at her heart.

Not that there was anyone else for it to turn to. No one else to help poor Hat Kid, either.

"A-are you talking to me?" Hat Kid resisted the urge to slap herself the second the words left her mouth. Now was not the time to play dumb. Monsters always ate the dumb ones first.

If it wanted to do that, though, it hid it well behind a quiet laugh.

"Who else would I speak to?" it said sweetly. Its gaze crept up over her shoulder. "I mean no offense, but Moony, you have never been one for conversation, have you not?"

Hat Kid followed her gaze, but all she saw behind her were a bunch of blue angel statues standing at the side. She would have called them cute, if not for the fact that they had no heads.

_Please don't let them be alive please don't let them be alive,_ she thought.

"No, I'm fairly sure we haven't met."

Without warning, it pulled Hat Kid's chin back. It leaned down, piercing through Hat Kid's blue eyes with its own green-eyed gaze, and Hat Kid shivered as she felt its finger trace over the side of her face. Even through its soft glove, its touch felt cold, like it had just come inside from a snowstorm.

Hat Kid knocked its hand away without thinking.

The second she heard it yelp, she knew she had made a big mistake. Moving was always a bad idea with a monster in your face. Hitting it was an even worse one.

Any second, its lips would peel back to reveal a set of fangs. Its skin would fall away to reveal an ugly face twisted into a snarl, and it would grab her by the throat. She would be turned into a statue without a thought. For a moment, she wondered if her head would be removed too.

She didn't expect it to look so hurt.

"W-what... what did I do?" it said, clutching its hand to its chest.

Hat Kid was confused. _I'm supposed to be the scared one here. Shouldn't I be more scared than it?_

"It's not your fault," Hat Kid said. "Sorry."

"Of course." Its shoulders slumped, and it sighed in relief.

Relief? Why was it relieved?

"I was just worried that... that..." Something flashed across its face, almost quick enough for Hat Kid to tell herself it was nothing. Almost.

It shook its head. "Well, you're not, so it matters little."

Behind her, Hat Kid saw a window. Her eyes widened, and for a moment she dared hope escape was possible. There was her chance. She just needed to find a way to grab it.

As she stepped forward, she said, "I've never seen you before. What's your name?" The words came to her as easily as her favorite cookie recipes. Hat Kid hated lying, but if it saved her, they could flow out like a fountain. A fountain of lies, that was what she was.

Its lips tugged down. "That's not right."

"It isn't? But we've never met," Hat Kid said. She inched a little closer to the wall.

Surprise showed on its face, before it morphed back into a big smile. "Perhaps not. But you've heard of Queen Vanessa, surely?"

Suddenly, Hat Kid found a leg blocking her path. It was her turn to frown. "Queen Vanessa? Is that you?" This time, she moved across the hall.

"Of course. I thought you would know. Don't people say things about me?" It drew closer.

"No one says anything, not even in the Subcon Forest."

"Oh." All the energy left it, and it slumped against the wall. It looked devastated. "Of course you wouldn't know. No one knows me outside of my own kingdom. I shouldn't have assumed. My apologies."

"It's fine?" Hat Kid said, a little confused. Well, more than she was already. "You wouldn't know about it. I think."

"Wait!"

Hat Kid gasped. Before she could blink, it leaned up in her face, blinding her with its bright and giddy smile.

"Please, do you think you could tell me about this 'Subcon Forest' of yours?" it said, grabbing Hat Kid's collar. "As a princess, it is important I know!"

"Didn't you say you were a queen?" Hat Kid blurted out.

To her relief, it let go of her collar and turned away, putting its hand to its chin. "Oh. Right."

Now was her chance! With it looking the other way, Hat Kid spun around. She broke into a sprint for the window.

"Where are you going?"

Its voice suddenly hardened, tingling and ringing like crystals in a breeze. Although Hat Kid couldn't see it, she felt its glare burning on the back of her head. The air around her cooled in an instant.

Against her will, she stumbled to a halt.

"W-w-what do you mean?" Her breaths came out in tiny puffs of fog, and she shivered.

"You're not trying to leave, are you?"

"Nope. Not at all!" Hat Kid chirped. "I was just trying to... find the kitchen! I'm just so hungry!" She rubbed her tummy and smiled.

It was still behind her, so she couldn't tell if it believed her, but when the warmth came rolling in and she stopped shivering, she couldn't help but feel relieved. She sighed.

It grabbed her by the cape before she could take a breath back in. She squeaked as it hauled her off her feet, dragging her farther and farther from the window.

"That's perfect!" Vanessa said. "It is something we may discuss over food! Moony, join us for lunch, won't you?"

* * *

**For once, I actually managed to follow up on these weekly updates. Honestly, I'm pretty surprised myself.**

**Up until now, most of the suspense I've done is a lot of situational suspense (at least, that's what I call it). Will Vanessa catch Hat Kid, is Vanessa behind that door, that kind of stuff. I think that was why the original second half wasn't as strong as the first half since there was less suspense overall, so this time I took a stab at suspense in dialogue.**

**I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Any thoughts and criticisms are appreciated. I should have another chapter out by next Friday. I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


	10. World 3-?: Be Our Guest

_/-/_

_You're alone_

_And you're scared_

_But the banquet's all prepared_

_No one's gloomy or complaining_

_While the flatware's entertaining_

* * *

Hat Kid was trapped.

Not in the way she'd ever expected, like in a cold cell surrounded by grey walls, wrapped up in rope while some bad guy stood over her, twirling his blond mustache.

This was worse.

As she sunk her teeth into a stale cookie, she tried to hide her wince. The crumbs felt stiff and brittle in her mouth, and they scraped against the inside of her mouth as she chewed, tainting it with their dry, cardboard flavor.

Across from her, Vanessa sat at the other end of the table, her hands clasped in front of her as she smiled. The table looked like it stretched on forever, but with a stare so intense, it still felt too short.

"How are they?" Vanessa asked in her sing-song voice.

"They're... crunchy," Hat Kid said, and she swallowed. The hard chunks scratched her throat as they went down, and Hat Kid added another item on her least-favorite foods list.

_These cookies were not worth all this trouble. I wish I'd never tried to take them._

Without really thinking, Hat Kid reached for another. Sure, they might not have tasted good, but sugar was sugar. She couldn't escape on an empty stomach.

"I should hope so," Vanessa said, never taking her eyes off Hat Kid. "I cooled them as long as I could on the windowsill so they would be extra-crunchy."

Hat Kid swallowed again. This time, she let out a cough, before she asked, "Do you have any milk?"

"Do we?" A smile wormed its way to her lips. Then it faltered, and she glanced at the side, and her smile turned upside-down.

"No, we don't have any milk. We do have water, though."

"Then could you get some? I'm thirsty." Hat Kid tucked her hands under her legs.

"Oh, of course!"

Vanessa turned away. The second her back was turned, Hat Kid tried to push off her chair.

An arm made of ice blocked her way.

Hat Kid jumped. That certainly wasn't there before.

She blinked, and it vanished, making her believe that she'd imagined the whole thing. The glass of water sitting in front of her said otherwise.

"What do you think?"

Hat Kid glanced up. Vanessa smiled back, her chin cradled in her hands.

"What do I think of what?" Hat Kid asked.

"Of my home, of course." Vanessa swept her arms around her.

Hat Kid put a finger to her chin. Her eyes drifted to a window, moonlight spilling through and staining the red carpet.

"It's the biggest house I've ever seen," she said after a second.

"It is." Vanessa sighed, and she started fiddling with the lamp on the table. "I told mother someone could get lost in all those twists and turns, running through one corridor after another like a trapped animal in the dark, unsure where to go no matter how hard they look, with no food or water to sustain themselves as their legs fail them and they slowly succumb to hunger. But she said no, so here we are."

Vanessa grabbed the handle again, and the small dusting of snow creeping up her side of the table drew back.

"Uh-huh. That's no good," Hat Kid said, nodding. She reached for another cookie. When she tried to take it, it stayed on the plate. She frowned and pulled again. This time the cookie flew off with a pop, like it had been frozen to the plate.

They tasted frozen too, Hat Kid noted as she took a bite.

As soon as she swallowed, she asked, "Where's your mom now?"

"Oh, I don't know." She moved her lamp to the middle of the table, and she looked to the side.

Hat Kid leaned out of her chair and quickly looked around. The only other thing in with the room was a fireplace, far off to the side, spreading a soft orange glow over the walls. They were alone, as far as she could tell. Now was the perfect time to–

"This was her favorite room, you know."

Hat Kid snapped back to Vanessa, her sweetest smile plastered on her face. "Huh?"

"She used to come in here all the time to add the odd piece of furniture or speak with her consorts. This table is all that remains."

Hat Kid frowned. "Did she have a lot of friends? There are only..." She took a moment to count the chairs. "Three chairs."

_Wait, three chairs?_

"Oh, there were more. It used to be so much worse; this castle was so crowded, you couldn't go to another room without running into someone else."

"And what happened to them?"

It was Vanessa's turn to frown. "Oh, I don't know. It's not my fault they stopped coming. Isn't that right, Moony?"

She glanced over to the empty seat. Hat Kid didn't hear it say anything, but whatever it must have said, Vanessa found it very funny.

"Oh Moony, you slay me!" she said, giggling like a little girl.

"What did he say?" Hat Kid asked, and she looked harder at the empty seat. Maybe she was missing something.

Vanessa waved her aside. "You might be too young to understand."

Hat Kid's lips tugged down. She was a space explorer! Whatever weird joke Vanessa had between her and her imaginary friend, she was sure she would understand. Not that she needed to hear, anyway.

"Well," she said, huffing angrily, "We're all out of cookies, anyway."

"Would you like some more?"

"Yeah!" Hat Kid said. "And while you go, can you put out the fire? I'm getting hot."

"It has been getting rather stuffy. Very well, I shall see to it."

Again, Vanessa turned her back. Hat Kid pushed herself off the chair. Her legs wouldn't tear themselves from the velvet cushion, though. They were frozen to the chair, just like the fork had glued itself to the table.

Hat Kid's brows furrowed. She tried again, before she sighed and lifted her gaze back over the table. Vanessa's shocked expression told her she hadn't been as sneaky as she thought she was.

"Are you trying to leave?" Vanessa said. "Y-you can't leave! You just got here!"

Her lamp hit the table with a resounding clink, and her hands flew up to grasp at her messy hair. Hat Kid heard crackling, and when she looked down, she saw ice crawl over the edge. It snaked its way over the table, coating the wood in a thick layer of frost that glistened in the firelight. She tried to tug herself out of her chair again, but her legs wouldn't budge.

"W-why would you come here if you were going to leave right away!"

"I don't want to leave!"

"Don't lie to me!" Vanessa's face twisted itself in rage.

"Someone sent me!"

Vanessa fell silent. The anger in her face evaporated like it was never even there.

"What?"

"I got sent to check up on you."

"By who?"

"No one." She wouldn't know who the Snatcher was, anyway. He said he never left her house. "I didn't want to come here, but he was just so loud and mean and he forced me to come."

"That sounds like someone I know."

"You do?" Hat Kid couldn't hide the surprise on her face.

"Yes," Vanessa sighed. "He was loud, and not very nice."

"Did he live here in the castle?"

"Oh yes, he came here all the time."

"Wow. You must have been very annoyed."

"Sometimes. But he was only loud and mean because he didn't know how to be nice. When you love someone, you stand being annoyed because you want to help them be less annoying."

Something clicked in Hat Kid's mind. The painting from before, the one in the red bedroom, came to her. The girl must have been Vanessa. Which meant...

"Was that your prince?" she said, her voice almost a whisper.

"Was it?" Vanessa looked a little unsure.

To her side, Hat Kid thought she heard a hiss. Cold air washed over the room, and she shivered. The ice on the table melted away like a wet blanket drying in the sun as Vanessa lifted her lantern off the table. She gave it a little shake, and the flame in it flickered, its orange ripping a hole in the darkness.

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?" The corner of Vanessa's lips twitched.

"I thought you two were so cute."

Vanessa hummed. "All anyone ever noticed was my prince. No one ever noticed me. Not that I blame them. My prince was wonderful. He was loud and mean, but he never told a bad lie. He listened to everyone, and everyone listened to him."

"Well, everyone listens to my boss because he eats souls."

"Did he?" Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "My prince would never do something so crude." Her eyes drifted over Hat Kid's head, though it looked like she was staring through the walls and into the cold, icy night outside. "Still, he was a liar. And I can't stand liars. If only I..."

Vanessa didn't speak. Slowly, the cold air shook Hat Kid back into reality, and as the silence dragged on, she realized now was the perfect time to escape.

She pushed away the plate of cookies in front of her. Her chair scraped back against the floor. She tried to get up again, and she smiled when she found she was no longer stuck to her chair.

Quietly, Hat Kid slipped to the floor. The silver moonlight on the floor drew closer. With every step, the moon snuck closer to the window. Her footsteps didn't make a single sound, but she checked over her shoulder, just to be sure.

The ice creeping up the walls glimmered in the lantern's dim light. Wood scraped against wood as Vanessa pushed her chair back. Something flickered across her eyes. Anger. Sorrow. Maybe both.

Hat Kid didn't look long enough to find out. Something blue flashed across her sight. Her boot caught on something and squeaked as it slid over the floor. Hat Kid stumbled. Her hand flew out, and she caught herself on the wall.

Her eyes slid up. The moon stared back, squashed and stretched by a wall of ice.

"Why don't you stay awhile?"

A shadow stretched over Hat Kid. She turned around to find a wide grin stretched over Vanessa's face.

"Surely whatever business you must attend can wait? Why don't I show you around? Whatever horrible thing awaits you outside has no reach here, I can assure you."

"But–"

Vanessa grabbed Hat Kid's arm before she could reply. "Come on! We've much to see!" she said, dragging Hat Kid behind her.

_No matter how fast I go, she always catches me, even when she's distracted._ Vanessa was turned away, so Hat Kid felt safe enough to scowl. _I'm going to need a bigger distraction._

Hat Kid's eyes wandered to the fireplace. A final wisp of smoke drifted out, dissolving into the air as the glowing coals below faded to black.

* * *

**In case no one noticed, I decided to change the update day to Saturday, since A) I don't have anything in my Saturday slot and B) it gives me more time between this fic and Brotherhood of Smash.**

**Ah yes, we're back to the dinner chapter. I know I already used this in a previous version, but I actually have a reason to have Hat Kid and Vanessa eat together.**

**I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter. Aside from that one update I did for Mama Lucina, I've been in a funk all week. This chapter was my ticket out of that funk, but I'm not sure if this chapter might have suffered as a result. It did its job, sure, but I get the feeling it's an orange in a barrel of apples in terms of mood. Also, I'm not quite sure if it's clear enough. I didn't try to be weirdly cryptic like at the end of Moonshine and Spirits, but if you say you need a translator to read through this one, I'd understand.**

**Next update, as I said, will come around Saturday. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring back the suspense and atmosphere here. Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


	11. World 3-?: How Far I'll Go

_Wait a second. I've been here before!_

Those cabinets on the walls, that fridge standing in the corner, towering even over Vanessa. After all she'd been through, somehow she'd ended up in the kitchen again.

Any second now, she expected it to poke its head out from around the corner, its glowing red eyes burning a hole straight through her.

"Isn't this the best kitchen you've ever seen?" Vanessa's voice, feathery like a pretty bird and faint like ice echoed in the tiny room as she swept her hands around. "We have these things, and that thing over there. Imagine how much food you could put there!"

"Do you even have food?" Hat Kid said, and she strolled up to the oven.

Vanessa paused. She stumbled over to the fridge and pulled it open. A hum escaped her lips as she scanned the inside.

The second she stuck her head out of sight, Hat Kid spun around and twisted the stovetop's knobs all the way up. Then she grabbed a towel hanging to the side and tossed it over, just in case.

"We're out of food, I'm afraid," Vanessa said. "I could have sworn they were full, last I checked. Not to worry, I'm sure there will be shops open this late."

When she turned back, she found Hat Kid standing straight, a big, innocent smile on her face.

"This is a very nice place you have here," Hat Kid chirped.

"It is," Vanessa said. "Surely you wouldn't mind staying here for a day? Maybe two? Maybe forever?"

"Okay!" Hat Kid pretended to sniff the air, before she asked, "Do you smell something funny?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Just sniff it! Don't you think there's something weird about it?"

"I'm not sure I..." Vanessa trailed off, and her eyes grew wide. "Is that smoke?"

It sure was. Big, bloated black clouds hovered over a blaze of swirling reds and orange.

Vanessa's hands were around Hat Kid's shoulders in an instant. Hat Kid froze. Before she could make a sound, Vanessa picked her up and set her down behind her.

Hat Kid blinked. It took her a second for her mind to catch up. With Vanessa distracted by the fire, now was her chance to slip away.

Quietly, Hat Kid slipped out the back. She passed the piano and the bookshelf, both of which looked the same as she had left them. All that was left was for her to wade through the pile of books, then she was out the door.

The hallway outside looked different. For one, the walls were a different shade of purple. And she sure didn't remember the pretty angel statue made out of ice being at the end of the hall. Pretty, except that it was headless.

She shook the thought from her head. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. She needed to get back to the attic, and fast, and if her memory served her correctly, it was only a door down.

Like always, the moon followed her as she ran past the first door, keeping her path glazed with silver. Her every step bounced off the cramped walls, bringing her closer and closer.

Her footsteps slowed. Then stopped. Hat Kid stuck a finger in her ear and rubbed it. She was sure her ears were working perfectly fine, but she could have sworn she heard something.

She threw a cautious glance at the walls. Slowly, she took another step.

_Clink._

The echo lasted a second too long. Almost like something else was stepping with her.

She looked over her shoulder. Everything looked the same. If she was being chased by it, she was sure she would only have to see its terrifying crimson gaze to know. Although she was sure the statue wasn't there before.

A thought crossed her mind. An icy feeling crept up her throat. She smooshed it back down, and she opened the door beside her.

All she found behind it was a closet.

The icy feeling surged, wrapping its unfeeling cold claws around her heart. She looked behind her again. The statue hadn't moved, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

So she turned.

And she ran.

Her steps were loud, but none of them were louder than the beating of her own heart. The pretty paintings rattled as she ran past. She didn't stop when she knocked over one. All she had to do was get away.

_Clink. Clink._

No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't escape. The clicking wasn't just behind her, it completely surrounded her.

_Clink. Clink..._

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it began to fade. With each click, the sound grew softer, until all she could hear was her own footsteps.

Hat Kid risked a look behind her.

The hall was empty. The statue was nowhere in sight.

Hat Kid sighed. Her arms relaxed, and she leaned back against the wall.

She didn't expect the wall to swing away with a creak.

Hat Kid's back hit an edge. She yelped, and she spun around. A flight of stairs leading up towered before her, and she could see a faint glow drifting over the top of the stairs.

Glancing back at the hall behind her, Hat Kid slipped inside. She tried to close the door. To her annoyance, she found a gaping hole in the place of the handle.

She reached over her shoulder, and she pulled out her umbrella. As much as she felt unsafe without it, it was the only thing she had to block the door.

She nestled the crook against the stairs. The tip, she pressed to the door. Just to be safe, she tugged on the door. When her umbrella didn't budge, she gave a satisfied huff, and she began to climb up the stairs.

She never saw the icy blue fingers poke through the hole in the door.

* * *

**I didn't think I'd finish this. I had so little time, which is why there isn't much, but I'm surprised I got it done at all.**

**Another week, another update. Until the next one rolls around, I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


	12. World 3-?: The Mob Song

_/-/_

_Through the mist_

_Through the woods_

_Through the darkness and the shadows_

_It's a nightmare but it's one exciting ride_

* * *

As Hat Kid reached the top of the stairs, she was running. Past the paintings, past the windows that looked so familiar. She didn't have a second to waste. Who knows what else was hiding in here?

She'd never know, not with the darkness draped over the walls like an ugly black paint.

A plank of wood stuck up and jabbed the tip of her boot. Her toes exploded into pain. Her stomach flopped as the rest of her body flipped. Her feet tumbled over her head, before she scraped the ground, rolled over the wooden floorboards, and slammed into a window.

The glass squeaked as she slid down. Her fingers scrabbled to grab onto something, anything. They wrapped around the wooden frame, and she held on tight to it.

Outside, she could see the snowy hills call to her. Escape was so close, just a glass screen away.

Hat Kid reached down and grabbed the bottom of the window. She tugged, and she tugged, but it was glued to the bottom.

She pulled again, and when the window didn't budge, she pulled harder.

Then her fingers slipped.

Hat Kid found herself lying on the floor, her back throbbing and hurting. She stared up at the moon, who started back at her with its unblinking gaze. Laughing at her pain.

"Don't just stay there," she said, reaching out for the moon. "Don't just watch. Help me! I don't want to be here, I want to go home!"

Of course, the moon didn't say anything. It wasn't as if the moon had a mouth.

But, to Hat Kid, it seemed to shine a little brighter.

Hat Kid followed the moonbeams trailing over her head to a door just behind her, drenched in silver light. Rolling over, Hat Kid pushed herself up, and she walked over to it.

With a shaky hand, she grabbed the handle. She was almost afraid to turn it. She felt she might have cried if it was locked. To her relief, it wasn't.

Silently, Hat Kid slipped inside. Blue paint washed over the walls to this room. A nice, purple carpet muffled the sounds of her footsteps as she crept across.

A crib stood guard next to the door. An empty one, thankfully; Hat Kid didn't want to have to sneak past a sleeping baby.

As she drew closer, though, her eyes drifted up. Sitting above the crib, hanging by one of its corners like it had been thrown onto the walls, was a painting exactly like the one in the red room.

The prince and princess, holding hands. The masked boy standing behind them. The manor loomed in the distance, atop grassy hills and beneath a sunny sky.

Hat Kid thought back to the window. She thought back to the white layer of snow blanketing the ground like a super heavy dusting of powdered sugar, so different from the painting.

Hat Kid loved snow, like any kid should. But like how if she buried a cookie in powdered sugar, she'd lose the taste of the cookie, all the snow outside hardly looked like a nice place to play. There was just too much of it there. She'd have preferred the green hills.

_The princess looks so happy here,_ Hat Kid thought. She looked back at the door, back to where she'd left Queen Vanessa. _If the princess grew up to become that lady, why did she become so scared and lonely?_

Hat Kid forced her curiosity down, and she tore her eyes from the painting. Maybe if she came back with her stuff to protect her, she could ask. Right now, though, she needed to get out of here.

So she grabbed hold of the door beside the crib, and she pulled it open.

The second she stepped through, her footsteps became loud again. With no carpet beneath her, her boots clacked against the wood as she ran over the moonlit floor, streaming in from windows high up on the walls.

At the end of the hall, a bright light called her forward. She ran toward that light. She didn't even know if it would lead her out, but at least it was somewhere to head to. Better than to keep wandering around.

A voice in her head screamed at her to turn around. She listened and looked over her shoulder.

Far behind her, the ice statue stood at the end of the hall, holding the door wide open.

Hat Kid's eyes widened. She pushed her legs to run faster. The statue never moved, even as it grew smaller and smaller in the distance. It stayed planted in the spot. Watching her.

Even though it had no head, she could feel its gaze burning into her heart. For a second, she hoped it had decided to stop chasing her. It was dumb, but it was all she could do to keep her going.

She turned a corner, and the statue disappeared from sight.

The second it did, the clicking started up again.

_Click. Click. Click. Click._

Her eyes stayed fixed on the hall behind her. Any second, she knew, the statue would pop out from around the corner.

It never did.

And the sound didn't echo as much as she thought it would. It was much quieter, almost like it was coming from outside.

Hat Kid glanced at the windows as she ran past. By chance, she caught sight of a blue hand clinging to the glass.

She turned back in front of her. Something blue flashed across her eyes, and she barely managed to duck under the icy arm outstretched before her.

Her gaze flew wildly around the hall. Through cracks in the ceiling, peeking out from behind open doors, pressed up against the windows, blocking the way behind her; they were everywhere.

The light was closer now. Between it and her, a tangle of unmoving icy blue arms and legs sprouted from every way, like a frozen forest of limbs reaching out for anyone to grab them and pull them out, stuck in a single moment of despair forever.

Fingers brushed against her legs, combed through her hair, trailed down her arms. She brushed them away, so focused on pushing on she didn't see the door at the end of the hall until her head slammed into it.

She cried out and spun around. Her eyes crossed in front of her, and she looked up at a set of blue fingers, inches away from touching her face.

With one hand, she grabbed her chest, feeling how her lungs grew big and shrunk back down. With her other hand, she felt across the door behind her for the door handle. She kept her eyes on the statues, refusing to let herself blink because she knew the second she closed her eyes, the statues could pounce.

The moment she felt something solid and metal beneath her fingers, she pushed down. The door swung open under her weight. A set of stairs jabbed into her back. Scrambling back up, she slammed the door shut as quickly as she could.

The doorknob rattled. Slowly, it began to turn.

Hat Kid was up the stairs in a heartbeat. She reached out and grabbed the closest thing she could find, a big box, and hurled it down. A crash rang out, the box spilling its insides all over the door, but Hat Kid was already running to get more boxes, throwing them behind her one after another until a big pile of stuff filled the bottom of the stairway.

As her heart returned to normal, she got a good look around her. This time, there was no confusing familiarity, no asking herself if she'd been here before. There was no asking, because she knew she had been here before.

Somewhere, somehow, she'd returned to the attic.

She almost screamed. _This isn't right! The stairs aren't supposed to lead there! What is wrong with this house?_

To think this mission started out so simple.

_Sneak into the lady's mansion, he said. It'll be a breeze, he said. All those rooms and winding hallways to explore, you like exploring, don't you kid?_

She did like exploring, but only if the place made sense. Now the timepiece was who knows where, and she was back to where she started.

Her back hit something. Hat Kid whirled around, only to find a tower of boxes high above her.

The tower shook. Hat Kid yelped, and she stepped aside. Just in time too, as the boxes toppled over and crashed beside her.

Hat Kid froze in place, expecting something to jump out at her from inside. When nothing happened, curosity got the better of her, and she crept over.

Books sat piled up on the floor, caked in dust like they had not seen light for a long time. Out of all of them, one caught her eye. On the cover, scrawled in thick black ink, it read: "The story of Princess Vanessa".

Hat Kid picked it up. She looked it over, from front to back. The movement swept the dust off the cover and into the air, and she coughed it away.

It was a diary, that much she could tell. Maybe it also explained what happened to Vanessa that made her so sad.

Hat Kid glanced up at the window in the ceiling, and through it, the moon. With the stairs blocked, there was no way she would be able to go back and look for the timepiece. She needed to find another way out of this, and soon.

But the statues back in the hall weren't going to be able to get through the door anyway. Surely it couldn't hurt to read just one page. Could it?

* * *

**I think the ice statues would have made for good additions to Vanessa's level. I'm fine with what we got, but I can't help but wonder what was on that cut third floor. It probably would've terrified the heck out of me either way, since I scare very easily.**

**Next chapter will come next Saturday. Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


	13. World 3-?: Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

_/-/_

_Do you want to build a snowman?_

_Come on, let's go and play!_

_I never see you anymore_

_Come out the door_

_It's like you've gone away._

_We used to be best buddies_

_And now we're not_

_I wish you would tell me why!_

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a princess._

_She wasn't the prettiest girl, her blond hair plainer than a grassy field, her green eyes not much more dazzling than a beach on a cloudy day. She didn't have much either, preferring to stay locked up in her home._

_But she had her books, she had her games, and most of all, she had a prince who loved her dearly. And so, she believed she could live happily ever after._

* * *

"Where are you?"

Another door, another disappointment. Vanessa stuck her lamp inside, painting the walls with a blood-red glow, but all she found was dust.

The blue beast inside her bubbled. Clouds of steam rolled off from it, soaking in her skin from her chest and out. Vanessa smothered it without a second thought, and she closed the door.

"Oh, I know! You want to play hide and seek! But there's so much I still want to show you, so how about we do it after?" Vanessa said as sweetly as she could.

The only reply she received was the crunch of the frozen carpet beneath her feet.

Vanessa waited a bit. When all she got for her patience was silence, she frowned. Her eyes roamed up and down the hall. Over every corner, every door, just about anywhere a small body could fit.

Something stirred. Her gaze snapped onto it, but it was just the snowfall outside the window. The girl was not in here.

Her lamp rattled. Vanessa reached over with her other hand, and she clamped down on her own wrist until, eventually, it stopped shaking.

"Fine! Have it your way!" Vanessa called. "Ready or not, here I come!"

The doors swung open as she stumbled through the hall. Vanessa took the time to check one door, then the one down the hall and the other one directly across. Still, nothing.

After a minute of searching, she looked over her shoulder. "Moony, where do you think she ran off to?"

Dead silence. Hanging in the air like snowflakes.

"I know it's not fair," she said, "but she didn't tell me she wanted to play either. I want to finish this game quickly."

Moony stared at her. A smile frozen on his face.

Then, he said, _"Game? What makes you think this is a game?"_

* * *

_One day, a crow showed up on her windowsill. There was nothing strange about the way it talked or walked. Not a feather was out of place. It could almost pass for any other bird, were it not for its feathers, as white as the arctic morning._

_The prince didn't trust the crow. He could tell something was not quite right about it. Yet despite his warnings, the princess was so overjoyed at the possibility of having a new friend she invited the crow inside._

_The three of them had such fun times, laughing, traveling, and playing together. Sometimes, the crow would amuse the prince and princess with tricks. Sometimes he would spin the princess the most wonderful tales. They were almost never apart._

_However, whenever the prince left them alone, the crow would slip into her ear the silvery, icy seeds of doubt._

* * *

Vanessa tilted her head curiously. "What are you talking about? Of course it's a game. A game of hide and seek!"

_"If she wanted to play hide and seek, why didn't she tell you to count down?"_ Moony replied. _"Everyone knows a game of hide and seek always begins with counting down."_

"Well, she isn't from here. Maybe they don't count down wherever she may hail from."

_"Then she must not be a very polite girl. If she was, she'd have said she wanted to play."_

"That may be so..."

_"And her manners are, even to me, hilariously awful."_

Vanessa shrunk a little. "They can't be that awful."

_"She hasn't a polite bone in her body."_

"That can't be true. She hasn't run away from me!"

_"Has she?"_

Vanessa slowed, glancing around wildly. The blue beast growled, simmering beneath her skin.

Furiously, she denied it. An angry shout tore from her lips. Lies, all lies.

Vanessa blinked, and the image disappeared. The beast cooled, the boiling in her skin fading away. "Why would she run? I've done nothing wrong, have I?"

_"I wouldn't know. I'd never run from you."_

"Maybe she thought the kitchen was ugly? Maybe the cookies were stale?"

_"Nonsense. The cookies were fine."_

"She's not stupid. She wouldn't lie. She wouldn't run." Vanessa shook her head.

_"That's what you said about him, too."_

A cold feeling stabbed her in the chest. With a shaky hand, Vanessa reached for the last door. She tried to grasp the doorknob, but her fingers slipped on the frost crawling over it. She tried again, digging her nails into the ice.

Then, when she was sure of her grip, she turned.

* * *

_"He doesn't love you," the crow said. "I can tell, he means to abandon you. You'll never have your happily ever after if he leaves you."_

_The princess denied his words, seeing straight through his lies. As the days went on, however, she began to see a grain of truth in the crow's deception. The prince only grew distant from her, and soon enough, that grain of truth was all she could see._

_Fear seized her fragile heart. Fear of losing what little she held dear, and slowly, she tightened her hold on her prince. The crow's seeds of doubt, nurtured by her desperation, began to bear fruit in the form of a terrible coldness. Coldness that seeped through her skin, deforming her until she was a princess no more, trapped within her shell of ice._

* * *

Vanessa pried the door open, almost afraid of what she would find.

Bits of wood and shards of glass lay scattered over the floor. They looked so cold in moonlight, glinting like little icicles. As she trudged down the hall, holes in the ceiling and the wall caught her gaze. She was sure the halls had been so neat before.

But what caught her interest the most was the crowd gathered at the end. Her little angels, glowing bright silver, all standing guard before a single door.

"What are you all doing here?" Vanessa said, motioning with her lamp. "Move aside."

The statues stayed exactly where they were. Vanessa stood there, waiting to see if they would listen, and when they didn't, she glanced behind her.

"Moony? Could you tell them to move?" she asked.

Moony nodded. By the time Vanessa turned back, the statues had cleared a path for her. She gave a satisfied huff as she strode past them to the door. She turned the knob.

To her surprise, the door was forced open. Countless boxes tumbled out from behind, burying her under a pile of cardboard.

Vanessa emerged from the pile of boxes, frustration clear on her face. She clawed her way through layers of things. Things she hadn't seen in years, like her old ice-pop molds, or that kitchen knife she thought she'd lost.

Someone had knocked all this down. Stuff that could crush a child if they weren't careful.

As she climbed up the stairs, her steps echoing loudly in the cramped space, the only thought echoing in her head was, "Please don't let the girl be crushed under a box. I don't want her to be squished."

The silver light of the moon washed over her as she stepped into the attic. A little panicked, Vanessa swept her eyes over the room. Aside from a few missing boxes, everything seemed to be in order. And in the middle, the girl stared up at her with wide eyes.

Vanessa almost cried in relief. The girl was still here. Moony was wrong, and she was right. Then she noticed the girl hiding something behind her back, and her eyes narrowed.

* * *

_The prince tried to reason with her, to thaw away the icy fear that gripped her heart. But his words could not pierce her shell, becoming fainter as her hold on him grew tighter until at last, he was forced to sever her hand and run away._

_At last, the crow's word had come to pass. With no one else by her side, the girl had only her shell to hold onto. So she let it grow and grow until it was so large it swallowed all who approached her, leaving them trapped in the very same frozen shell as her. Not even the crow was safe from the product of his own machination, his last laugh frozen on his beak._

_Vanessa wasn't the prettiest girl, and she didn't have all that much. Now, all she had now was her home, and a small flame to warm herself by._

_And in the end, she was left in cold isolation, trapped within an icy prison of her own making._

* * *

**I'm not quite sure about how the chapter paces itself, especially compared to the other stuff, but it's a necessary evil. Hopefully, it's a little clearer than the time rift chapter, since I seem to have a habit of conveying things in weird and obtuse ways that no one else seems to understand.**

**This is my way of integrating Moonjumper into the story. I thought it wouldn't do to just make him the prince when we already have Snatcher.**

**Also, the new cover is by me. I had time to spare, so I decided to give it a makeover.**

**Next chapter will arrive next Saturday. Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe.**


	14. World 3-?: Remember Me

_/-/_

_Remember me_

_Though I have to say goodbye_

_Remember me_

_Don't let it make you cry_

_For even if I'm far away_

_I hold you in my heart_

_I sing a secret song to you_

_Each night we are apart_

* * *

Hat Kid knew she wasn't the tallest girl, but Vanessa's unflinching gaze made her feel tiny. The lantern in her hands washed the room in a feverish orange glow, and for a second, her icy blue eyes glittered red.

A spike of terror chilled her heart, only to be quickly replaced with a tinge of sadness. For a moment, she thought of the book behind her, and all the terrible things it described. She imagined how it must feel, to be all alone for so long.

And all because someone tricked her into becoming a monster.

She wanted to help her. Yes, she still needed to get the timepieces, but she couldn't just leave Vanessa like this and still feel happy about herself.

She just didn't know if she could help at all.

"What's that?" Vanessa said.

"Nothing." Hat Kid winced the second the word came out.

"Nothing, is it? What's that behind you, then?"

Again, Hat Kid winced, and she shifted the book further behind her back.

"I don't know," she said, and she jabbed a finger over Vanessa's shoulder. "What's that behind _your_ back?"

Far from fazed, Vanessa followed her gaze. "Oh, this is Moony," she said, motioning to the air like it was a perfectly normal thing to do. "He's a very good friend of mine. You have seen him before, haven't you?"

Hat Kid frowned. She didn't remember seeing anyone else besides Vanessa, so she knew she didn't meet anyone named "Moony". But thinking back, she did remember Vanessa mention a "Moony" and–

Oh.

"Oh, right! H-hi Moony!" The words stumbled out of her mouth. She knew Vanessa wouldn't be fooled for a second, but she dared to hope it might.

That hope was dashed when Vanessa's eyes narrowed.

Maybe would she forget about it if she talked about something else? "I don't think your blue statue friends like me," Hat Kid said. "Can you try to–"

"What? Why?"

Suddenly, Vanessa stepped back, her eyes wide. Hat Kid watched her gasp like she had seen a ghost, but when Hat Kid looked over her shoulder, all she saw was the dusty attic.

"Vanessa? What's wrong?" she said, and she glanced back at Vanessa.

"Don't 'what's wrong' me!" Out of nowhere, Vanessa's face twisted into a snarl. "You know exactly what's wrong!"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

Hat Kid stumbled back, and shards of ice hurtled over her head.

The lamp in Vanessa's other hand swung after her. Hat Kid yelped, but the lamp missed, dragging Vanessa to the side with a yelp.

Like magic, all the anger vanished from Vanessa's face, and surprise flooded her eyes. She gasped again.

Hat Kid saw Vanessa's fingers reach for her, and she backed away.

"I am so sorry," Vanessa mumbled. "I– you just looked like someone else, so I just– I am sorry."

"It's okay. Yeah, it's okay," she said, more to herself than anything. Slowly, the smile returned to her face as she silently told her heart to stop pounding against her ribs. "You said you wanted to show me around? Why don't you tell me where this is?"

"Of course." Vanessa clutched her head. "This is the attic. I store... things in it."

"Well, I use my attic to store things too! Though mine isn't as big as yours. It'd take a million years to look through it all!"

"Yes, well I assume you wouldn't want anyone taking a look at your things behind your back, would you?"

Hat Kid swallowed. "No, I don't. Not that I know anything about that. Do you want to talk about all these boxes instead?" she said, and she pointed around them.

"Boxes?"

"Yeah! Boxes are fun! You can put stuff in them, or you can build stuff with them. You can do anything if you have enough boxes!"

Vanessa hummed. "Is that so?"

"Yeah! And you have so many boxes here, you could build a castle big enough to get lost in!"

"But isn't the manor already big enough?"

"Yeah. But you can make another mansion inside the mansion!"

"Well, I don't want you to get lost again."

"Again?"

This time, it was Vanessa's turn to look away. "I didn't say anything."

Hat Kid tilted her head. What was there to hide?

"Yeah, I got super lost. What's the matter?"

"You got lost? I didn't know!"

Now Vanessa was just being super confusing. She knew Hat Kid had gotten lost. She'd chased her!

After all, Vanessa had to be the monster with the glowing red eyes. Right?

"So... you're not the big scary monster running after me?" Hat Kid all but whispered.

"Monster? I don't know what you're talking about." Vanessa tried to deny it, but in the lamp's dim light, the sweat trickling down the side of her face was impossible to hide.

"Then who was it?" Hat Kid stomped her foot. "Was it Moony? Who else is here?"

"I don't know anything about a–" Vanessa hissed, and she clawed at her face. "No, I'm not lying–Argh!"

Suddenly, Vanessa stiffened. Hat Kid reached out to touch her, only to pull back as a lamp swung for her face. Vanessa snapped around. Glittering red eyes, red like lava, drilled a hole straight through the empty space behind her.

"N-no! No, she doesn't know," she said, her voice growing louder by the second, all to the nobody in the room with them. "She can't! She can't know."

"Hey!"

In an instant, Vanessa fell silent. Her gaze snapped onto Hat Kid, wild and scared. And such a surprise, Hat Kid forgot to speak.

She didn't need to. All she did was point.

Vanessa followed her finger to the thick white mist oozing out from beneath her dress, sparkling like a cloud of snow in the morning sun.

"Oh."

Hat Kid glanced up at Vanessa. Like the countless stars whizzing past her window out in space, she watched a thousand emotions flicker through Vanessa's face. Her brows pulled up in surprise, then descended into anger. Her mouth twitched. Her eyes zipped up and down, left and right, and everywhere between until, at last, they landed on her.

"You knew," were the words her mind finally seemed to settle on.

Hat Kid nodded.

Vanessa's lips peeled back. For a second, her face twisted into a sad expression, like she might start bawling.

She laughed instead.

"And I thought–I thought–" Her laugh disappeared beneath a snarl. "You just want to leave! You're going to leave! Just like him! Just like everyone else!"

Hat Kid shook her head. "No! I'm not going to."

"You're lying!"

"Maybe your prince–" Vanessa's glare turned dangerously sharp, but Hat Kid didn't budge, "–maybe he left you because you scared him off. But I'm not gonna. You're so lonely here, and I wanna help!"

"Y-you... No! That's not true! You just want to leave. Oh, why does everyone want to leave me alone?"

"I'm not going to leave you alone."

Vanessa slammed her hand into the wall. With a howl, she twisted it back and sent it hurtling toward Hat Kid.

Hat Kid's eyes slammed shut. Though she felt no touch, she could feel an icy breeze hover in front of her face.

She peeked an eye open. Then, two.

There were Vanessa's fingers. Just inches from grasping at the tip of her nose.

Behind it, Vanessa's other hand clasped around her wrist, shaking like it was taking everything she had not to grab her.

"Run," Vanessa commanded.

Hat Kid wanted to run. Her heart was telling her to throw herself to the side.

"No," she replied.

Vanessa's glare faltered, confusion taking hold for a split second.

"Run!" she said, louder this time. "Run, while you still can."

"No." Hat Kid took a deep breath. "I don't want to."

"RUN!"

Hat Kid's eyes flickered to the door. Vanessa was going to let her run. Anyone else would have grasped at the chance.

"No," she said.

Vanessa's hand inched closer. Her fingers twitched. Hat Kid felt cold spread from the tip of her nose to around her eyes, then over her face.

Vanessa's lips wobbled.

Her lamp hit the floor with a thud as she collapsed into a heap.

Hat Kid looked down at her. Watched her shoulders rise. Then fall, shaking.

"Why won't you run?" Her words were so quiet, even the slightest breeze could have drowned them out.

"I said I was gonna help you. I want to help."

"You... want to help?" Beneath the big pile of green, Vanessa sniffled. "Okay, Moon–okay. What... what do you want to do?"

"Let's go downstairs. Then, you can keep telling me all about the kitchen."

"Okay."

Despite that, Vanessa remained still. Hat Kid didn't ask her to move. She didn't want to before she was ready, not if Vanessa changed her mind. This was a start, at least.

At the back of her mind, she could hear the Snatcher's voice remind her of that pesky contract. She still had to find the timepiece in Vanessa's attic.

"Snatcher's dumb contract can wait," she muttered.

"What was that?"

With a crinkle and a pop, Vanessa's voice froze at the drop of a hat. Just hearing it, Hat Kid shivered, and when she looked back down, she found two red eyes staring back up at her.

Suddenly, she wasn't quite so sure about herself. "Nothing."

"No, no. You said... Snatcher." Slowly, Vanessa's dress pulled itself around her as she rose to her feet. "When we used to play all the time... what was it he called himself?"

Hat Kid stepped back. Her eyes widened, just as Vanessa's scowl did too.

"Yes, that's right. Snatcher."

Cold seeped through Hat Kid's boots. A fog rolled over the floor, and within seconds, the entire floor was gone. Hat Kid couldn't even see her own feet through it.

She gasped, raising her gaze back to Vanessa, only to find Vanessa's face an inch from her own.

"Oh. How clever. How cruel. He sent you, didn't he? He sent you to get all my hopes up, right?"

"No!" Hat Kid tried to get through to Vanessa. She had to get her to listen!

"Then I won't let him!" Vanessa cried out before she could even say another word.

With a shriek, she lunged for Hat Kid, arms outstretched.

* * *

**To say "it's been a while" would be a pretty silly understatement. I am very sorry for being an entire month late. Though it's certainly not the longest I've left this fic for, I don't like leaving my stories in the dust, and I can assure you I spent quite a while working on this. It took me three whole drafts to get a version of this that I liked, and even then, I think there are places that are more miss than hit, but hey, that's life. Writing's not that easy, but at least I got something out in the end.**

**I am still very much alive and kicking, and I fully intend to finish this. To all you wonderful readers, thank you for holding out. Hopefully the next chapter will be easier to write, and if I put myself to task, I'll be able to get another chapter out by next week.**

**Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


	15. World 3-?: One Jump Ahead

/-/

_One jump ahead of the hoofbeats_

_One hop ahead of the hump_

_One trick ahead of disaster_

_They're quick, but I'm much faster_

_Here goes_

_Better throw my hand in, wish me happy landin'_

_All I gotta do is jump!_

* * *

Vanessa's howl echoed off the walls, shaking the boxes around her as Hat Kid ran past. The floorboards wobbled and shook, opening up cracks beneath her. She hoped they would never grow larger enough to swallow her feet on top of all the horrible, horrible things she'd been through today.

Stupid. That was what all her friends would call her. She was so dumb. She'd been so close to helping Vanessa. And she'd messed it up. Messed up, like how she never noticed all the fake timepieces the Conductor was giving her, or how she let Mustache Girl find out about them.

"Get back here!" Vanessa shrieked. Her voice bounced off the walls in every direction. Hat Kid couldn't even tell if she was in front of her or behind her. When she peeked over her shoulder, she saw the black mist creep in from around the corner.

Why did she even bother trying? She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be collecting her timepieces so she could go home! Who cared if some lady stayed lonely forever?

Mustache Girl wouldn't. If Mustache Girl came here, she would have just locked her in the bathroom, or thrown her down the stairs. She wouldn't care who got hurt. If they were bad, she would be more than happy to throw them away.

As a shower of ice crystals ripped through the wall beside her, Hat Kid began to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Then she remembered how sad Vanessa looked, how hurt she was when she thought Hat Kid would run away.

"Where are you?" Vanessa's voice rang loud and clear over the tops of the boxes towering above. "Where are you?!"

She sounded closer this time. Hat Kid ran faster. She turned a corner.

It was a dead end.

Hat Kid boots skidded against the floor. She gasped and turned around.

The black mist crawled closer. Further back, she could see the strangled glow of Vanessa's lantern pouring in. It only got brighter, every second she stood there waiting.

Hat Kid's eyes flickered to the big wooden crates around her. The mist nibbled at her toes, and a cold feeling started to seep through her boots.

Thinking fast, she flicked her umbrella out. The tip smashed into the boxes. Overhead, they trembled, creaked, and crashed to the floor.

_That should keep her busy,_ she thought.

With that done, Hat Kid turned back to the dead end. If she still had her hats, this wouldn't be a big problem. A change to her Brewing Hat and she could blast right through it. But since she couldn't, she had to find another way to escape.

Slowly, her eyes drifted up, and she was struck by an idea. If she couldn't get through them, what if she tried to go over?

She didn't have a moment to waste. Hat Kid grabbed onto a plank sticking out of the wall, and she pulled herself up.

* * *

"Where is she?"

Vanessa slammed into the side of a crate. Her hand clawed through the wood, shooting jagged ice crystals in all directions. Her head spun as she pushed off it and stumbled forward.

"Where is she?" she cried again.

Her gaze snapped onto Moony, watching her from his perch at the very top. He grinned back.

_How should I know?_

"How should you know?!" Vanessa grasped at the air. "You're up there! I'm down here! Please, you've got to tell me! I have to find her! Find her, before she... before she..."

_And what will you do, once you have her?_

"I..." The girl had tricked her. Left her alone, even after she said she wouldn't.

But was that before she lashed out? Or after?

No. She hadn't done anything wrong, she couldn't have.

"I don't know."

Vanessa shook her head and snarled. She didn't know? What kind of reply was that?

_Of course,_ Moony whispered. _She betrayed you. Just like your prince. The second she realized what you were, she fled. You can't ignore something like that, can you?_

"No! Never!" She growled, anger welling up inside her. It crept up inside her like a patch of ice, curling inside her stomach. Her hands shook with the effort of keeping it in. Her lantern clanked along.

"When I get my hands on him..." she hissed. "When I get my hands on him, I'll... I'll..."

She stopped. What would she do? What did she do to everyone else?

No, she didn't do anything. They left her. They hated her, and they left her.

_You'll what?_ Moony sneered. _What will you do, Vanessa? Freeze her? Turn her to ice?_

"Her?"

_The girl. Who else?_

Something else sloshed around in her stomach. It bubbled, frothed, and foamed. Vanessa slowed. She stumbled into a wall, leaning against it, and she clutched her head.

"Freeze her?" She shook her head. "No no. I wouldn't do that. Why would I want to... No, I don't want to. She doesn't deserve that. I can't..."

She grabbed a handful of her hair, anything to settle the boiling sensation in her head. "Please," she murmured. "You have to help me find her."

_Then what?_

"I'll figure it out when I find her!"

Moony's eye slits thinned. She must have looked so pathetic to him, but where else did she have to turn?

He didn't even say a word to her. All he did was nod his head off to the side.

Right now, it was all she could ask for. She had a girl to find.

Vanessa barreled ahead. Past rows and rows of boxes, each identical to the last. They could have stretched on forever, and she'd never have noticed.

But they had to come to an end. Her attic was only so large, and up ahead, she spotted a turn.

Was she around that corner? Vanessa couldn't tell. She couldn't hear the sound of the girl's footsteps. Not with all the crashing coming from above.

Vanessa looked up just in time to see an avalanche of wooden crates descend upon her. She barely had time to cry out before they buried her.

* * *

The crates proved to be no better than the floor when it came to shaking. They wobbled with every step she took, and the attic seemed to go on forever. She was so sure it was only a tiny room before.

Half those boxes weren't even there, last time she visited. It was like magic.

Magic, just like everything else in this stupid forest.

She didn't have much time to worry about that, not when the floor ripped out from beneath her feet.

Hat Kid yelped. The box tumbled down, and her foot slipped. She flung out her arms and, to her relief, felt solid ground under her boots.

She just kept running. Running from the horrible screeching behind her. A reminder that she'd done nothing to help.

Further down and far below, she saw a faint blue glow.

It couldn't be. It was too good to be true.

But when she looked behind her and saw ice starting to edge up behind her, pointy and sharp, she realized she didn't have any other option.

She jumped. Her boots smashed into the wood as she landed on the other side.

They buckled and tried to throw her into the pit below. Hat Kid didn't care. She had to get there, had to see.

An ear-splitting wail came from behind her. A cold breeze brushed over the back of her neck. Her hair flew in front of her face.

There was a crackle and a flash, and ice covered the floor.

It sparkled so prettily, coloring the planks such a nice shade of blue. Hat Kid might have stopped to admire it if her foot hadn't slid out from under her and dragged her over the edge.

The fall was a lot longer than Hat Kid remembered it. She sucked in a breath, her eyes going wide. Flailing her arms, she grabbed onto the first thing she could find, anything to make the landing hurt less.

Her fingers wrapped around something soft. A big blanket. She yanked it down with her.

When she hit the ground, it folded around her like a big hug. A really, really dusty one. She rolled herself free, hacking and sneezing, and slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. Dusted herself off.

The floor all around her was covered in blue.

At first, she thought it was ice, but it didn't glitter and shine like it.

Hat Kid dared to look up.

Before her, the timepiece lay on the ground.

* * *

Behind her, bits of wood scattered to the ground. Vanessa rose. Her lamp rattled in her rigid grip. Her hands quivered with... Anger? Disappointment? Despair? It was so hard to tell.

And that frustrated her. More than she could put into words.

She put her fist through a wall instead.

"Where. Is she?!"

Moony had no answer for her. Not for how she should have felt, nor where the girl had gone. His narrowed gaze said she should have known herself.

Vanessa glanced around, swinging her lamp before her. The fallen crates. They couldn't have tumbled down on their own. The girl had been here. Right?

To her right rang another crash. That had to be her. It couldn't be anyone else, there was no possible way.

Her feet carried her toward it. Mist oozed out to her front, ice-cold magic dripping from her fingertips with every step she made. It rolled out down the corridor, brushing over walls that stretched on and on and vanished in the distance.

A small part of her recoiled in terror. Where was she going? it cried out. This attic was a twisted maze, one she could lose herself in forever if she wasn't careful.

But that was crazy. Moony would never let her get lost.

Something snagged her foot. Vanessa screamed. Her arms flew out, lamp hanging at the front. They didn't stop her from slamming into the floor.

The icy fog swallowed her up. Vanessa gasped, and she sucked in a frigid breeze.

It was cold. Colder than she'd ever felt. She didn't even know anything could get this cold. It was enough to coat the inside of her mouth in ice.

Vanessa pushed herself off the ground. She sputtered, and flecks of white splattered over the walls.

She'd been tripped by another pile of crates, thrown to the floor by someone. The girl.

Vanessa looked up, down, and everywhere between for her. Over the boxes stacked high all around her.

Much higher than she remembered them being before.

What if the girl had taken a fall? From that high, she'd be hurt, and if she was hurt, it would be Vanessa's fault.

Except it wouldn't be. The girl would have never hurt herself if she hadn't abandoned her.

"The girl," she said to herself. "This is all her fault." It had to be. Yes, it had to be, because if it wasn't...

_I have to find her._

Yes, she needed to find the girl. If she found the girl, it would all make sense. Before her, the corridor split in two. She could go left, or she could go right.

But which way had the girl gone?

Vanessa peered left. Moony smiled back. She looked right, but Moony's face was there waiting for her. Smiling that empty smile of his.

"Which way is it?" she growled.

He didn't reply. He didn't even move.

"Which way?!" she said again, louder this time.

His vacant eyes just stared. Stared straight through her.

"Tell me!" She howled. "Tell me, or I'll... do..."

Her face twisted. Her hand lunged for his neck.

Her fingers stopped an inch short.

She pushed. Tried to close the gap. Sweat drops, the first in so long, beaded the side of her face, as she forced her arm forward, but no matter what she did, it just. Wouldn't. Move.

Then she stumbled forward. Her hands grasped at the empty space, and wisps of smoke slipped through her hold.

Moony watched her from a few feet away. That damnable smirk, eternally frozen onto that pale blue mask.

Vanessa opened her mouth. A scream tore forth from her lips, and all her searing cold anger poured out in a roaring, frosty gale.

* * *

Never in her life had she been so happy to see its comforting blue glow. She reached out and pulled it close.

"I'm never gonna let you go," she whispered to it. "Never ever never!"

Not that it could understand her, or that it could feel anything, but it was the thought that counted, right?

A cold wind snapped her out of her thoughts. It tickled her toes and crept up to her knees, and when she looked down, she saw that terrible mist crawling up to her.

Vanessa couldn't be far behind.

Hat Kid had to hold back a cry. Scrambling to her feet, she looked over her shoulder. In the far back, a painting hung overhead. They hung all around, her showing people she had never met smiling and laughing.

And blotting them out was a shadow, cast over the painting at the very end. Vanessa's shadow. Stumbling and bumping against the walls.

Hat Kid turned on her heel and sprinted away.

She wouldn't stop now. Not when she was so close. She had the timepiece, all she had to do was find a way out. A window, a secret tunnel. Something, anything would do!

A crackle came from below. Hat Kid looked down. Her reflection looked back up from the sheet of ice on the floor.

Her boots squeaked, squawked, and slipped. Her hands waved wildly as she tried not to fall over. Only a second later, she spotted the turn but by then, it was too late to stop herself.

Hat Kid's face slammed into the crates. She heard them come loose above her. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

She pushed off the side, and the boxes came crashing down behind her. Her side skidded over the wall. She turned away, keeping the timepiece safe from harm.

Vanessa's roar shook the entire house. That was all she needed to get herself going again. Big paintings whizzed past her, a blur of colors as she slid faster and faster. Up ahead, another turn barreled toward her.

This time, she threw her umbrella out before her. The hook snagged on the corner. With a grunt, she pulled herself around, and she flung herself through it.

Right into the path of a big hole, leading down.

_That's it!_ she thought. _That's my way out!_

For a second, she let herself hope.

She heard something crackle, heard it pop. Behind her, a wave of ice surged forward. She didn't need to look to know it was there, not when it had already reached her twice.

The hole got nearer. So did the ice. But the hole was so close. Once she was in, she would be safe!

Hat Kid threw herself forward. The ice nibbled at her feet.

The timepiece lit up the hole with a shiny blue glow. Her hands followed, and her head did too. Her feet banged against the sides.

Then she was sliding toward freedom. The bottom rushed up to meet her.

And she lurched back.

Hat Kid dangled high over it. She struggled. Whatever had her, though, it held on tight. Her breath locked in her throat, Hat Kid craned her neck over her shoulder.

Her cape remained stuck at the very edge of the passage. Tiny ice crystals swarmed over it like a million little white ants.

Her stomach plunged down. Hat Kid reached up. She yanked her cape, but it just wouldn't budge.

She was helpless to watch as the ice crystals inched closer to her face.

* * *

He was laughing at her. All around, his face watched her through a window of oil and vibrant colors. Following her as she staggered onward, her lamp held out ahead of her. It was all she had leading her forward.

"Why?" she said. "Why won't you tell me?"

Moony laughed harder.

Vanessa swiped at him. She tried to catch him, drag him back down. Once more, he slipped out of reach, and her lamp swayed precariously as it settled back down.

Her lamp... when did she have a lamp with her?

She charged at him. Her lamp came swinging around, but it passed straight through him.

"Come back here! Please, I have to know!"

Her words seemed to drive him further away. Every step she took brought him three steps back.

The realization drove panic into her heart. She couldn't let that happen. He couldn't leave her too!

A ragged cry broke out from her. She leaped forward, one last time.

And crashed into something.

Vanessa toppled backward. Some kind of thick cloth tangled her feet, but she grabbed onto the wall before she could fall. She blinked, clearing the dots out of her eyes. Then she blinked again.

Moony, her dear Moony, was standing before her, facing to the side. A window somewhere nearby let moonlight leak through. Bathed in it, his body glinted bright silver.

Carefully, Vanessa slipped around him. As she stepped over the tarp pooled around his feet, she stared at his face. His grin was still carved into his mask. Behind it, though, she could see his eyes.

She'd never noticed, but it had been years since she'd seen his eyes through his mask. All he had now were two hollow sockets.

But through them? His eyes were wide with fear.

Vanessa traced a finger over his cheek. It was cold. Cold, like the mist she'd almost choked on, only now it laced her fingers instead of her throat.

Somehow, that was more terrifying.

Moony was covered in ice.

Shocked, Vanessa took a step back. She looked behind him by chance, and looming over them both, she saw the painting. The very same painting she had in her room, the one with her, her beloved prince, and him.

They stared down at her now. Judging her, accusing her. Accusing her of what?

Her eyes drifted back down to Moony, shining a brilliant silver.

"Who... who did this to you?" she breathed.

_You did,_ was her reply.

"No... no, it can't be my fault!" She fell to her knees. "It just can't!"

_But why not?_

Because... because Moony said so! Moony, he was always there to tell her it wasn't her fault.

Except now, he didn't say a thing.

"Please," she said, her voice beginning to waver. "Please, tell me it's not my fault!"

There were no whispered words of comfort for her.

This... this had never happened before. He was always there for her. Where was he now? She needed him, but where had he gone?

Her head fell. "Please. Tell me."

Silence.

Vanessa closed her eyes. She pressed her forehead against what was once her dear Moonjumper.

"Please... tell me you're still here."

He didn't.

The lamp slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. Its glass casing shattered into a thousand pieces.

The wax spilled out. The candle inside licked the floor, and from it, its tiny flame began to spread.

* * *

**It's a week late, but this chapter turned out a lot longer than I expected. Everything's come to this.**

**I'll try to get another chapter out by next week. Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe.**


	16. World 3-?: Les Poissons

The ice crystals on her cape snapped. Tiny cold bits rained down on her face, and then she found herself falling.

The ground rushed up to meet her, faster than she'd seen it come at her before. If she didn't do anything, she would hit it at a million miles per second and go splat!

She wasn't ready to become a pile of mashed potatoes!

Thinking fast, Hat Kid reached into her coat and pulled out her big blue umbrella. She pressed down on the button. The umbrella spread itself open. Around her, the wind flew into the umbrella, and it pushed it back.

_That won't help at all!_ she groaned in her head.

She stretched up, grabbed the umbrella, and dragged it back down. She squeezed the button again.

Her fingers slipped.

"Oh, come on!" she said, out loud this time.

Hat Kid looked down, and immediately wished she didn't. Her stomach flipped, flopped, and did a triple somersault as the ground came closer. In a few seconds, if her stupid umbrella wouldn't work, she would become paste on the floor.

Then, she felt something. A tingly feeling tickled her toes. Like an electric spark, it raced up her body, through her knees, her shoulders, to the tippy-top of her head. It circled around, and in a flash, she felt a familiar presence settle over her crown.

Her hats! They'd come back!

The ground was almost on her now. Hat Kid wrapped her hand around the handle of the umbrella, and she squeezed. She heard the umbrella unfold, heard it catch the wind.

Beneath her, the floor's speedy approach slowed to a crawl.

Hat Kid breathed a sigh of relief. Her boots gently touched down on the floor with a splash, sending ripples all across the room. Surprised, she looked up, and she found herself back in the basement.

She blinked. When she didn't wake up somewhere else, she blinked again. She couldn't believe it. It was just too good, but she really was back where she started.

She was finally free!

Dashing out the door in the middle, Hat Kid had to hold back a laugh as she sprinted up the stairs and burst through the trap door. Her boots crunched in the snow. With a big grin on her face, Hat Kid spun around and stuck her tongue out at the manor behind her.

Take that! She was free, and there was nothing it could do to drag her back.

Then she noticed the giant flames licking the roof of the house.

_Vanessa is still inside!_ was her first thought.

She shook her head. No. No no no! She just got out, there was no way she was going back in.

But Vanessa didn't know where the secret hole was. She would be stuck.

Was that a bad thing, though? She had ice powers. She could cool down her own house.

Hat Kid took another look up. The fire was still there. There was no burst of ice, no blast of cold wind. A hole dropped through her stomach.

She wasn't sure what she was thinking, running back inside. It was dumb. She knew that.

But going into the Subcon Forest was dumb too. Agreeing to sneak inside someone's house for a purple smiley face was dumb. Everything about this was dumb. What was one more dumb thing to add to the list?

Slipping back inside the secret passage, Hat Kid tugged her hat down, just to make sure it was still there. Her finger traced over the badges, three in a line, pinned to the cloth. She raised her umbrella to the ceiling and pressed a button on the back. With a click, a grapple shot up, latched on, and pulled her up.

The first thing she noticed as she entered the attic was how hot it was. Fires licked the walls, painting everything around her in orange.

As gloomy as it was, she preferred the old blue.

Something groaned. Snapped in half like a twig. Hat Kid turned around just in time to see the wall fall right at her.

She yelped and took off in an instant. Her boots splashed in the puddles of melted ice glazed over the floor. They didn't even try to slow her down.

Which quickly became a problem when she realized how close the wall of crates in front of her had become. Like everything else, a blanket of fire draped over it, its scorching hot bite warning her not to get close. She wouldn't be able to stop herself from running into it, not with the ceiling chasing after her.

Hat Kid poked a hand inside her coat, and she pulled out a fluffy blue woolen hat. In one swipe, she replaced the hat on her head with it. Her hand stretched out. A blue tint coated her fingertips, crackling as it crawled up to her elbow, then to her shoulder, until her entire arm was covered in ice.

Reaching back, Hat Kid hurled her arm forward, and she smashed the wall into a million wooden pieces.

And there was Vanessa. Knelt down, her green dress pooled around her, her lamp lying in pieces beside her. As the whole house burned down around her, she just stayed there.

"What are you doing?" Hat Kid said. "Come on, let's go!"

Vanessa mumbled something to the floor. Whatever she'd said was snuffed by the flames.

Hat Kid's lips pulled into a frown. As much as she wanted to know, they just didn't have the time! Grabbing onto Vanessa's sleeve, she tried to pull her away, but no matter how hard she tugged, she just wouldn't move.

"Do you want to stay here? Come on!" she said again. "We don't have time!"

"...why?"

Hat Kid stopped. She glanced back down at Vanessa. Her narrowed eyes still glowed red, holding all her icy cold anger behind a thin door of crimson, but the way they faded just a tiny bit had Hat Kid holding out hope.

"Why?" she asked. "Why what?"

"Why are you helping me? So you can crush me even more when you leave me again?"

"What? No!" Why was she helping her? Maybe because she would feel awful if she just left her to die? Vanessa didn't deserve this.

Hat Kid left the Mafia in despair, she'd put the Conductor in jail. If there was any time for her to do something good, now would be it.

Hat Kid shook her head. "I'm not going to leave you. We need to get out of here!"

"The least you could do is stop lying about it." Vanessa's eyes came back to the floor. "Leave me be."

"I'm not gonna!" Hat Kid dug her heels in and pulled.

Flames danced all around them, mocking them as they came closer with every second. To the left and right, the walls continued to draw in, and through it all, Vanessa remained rooted to the spot.

"Why wouldn't you move?" Hat Kid said.

Her fingers slipped. Not expecting the sleeve to fly out of her grasp, Hat Kid tumbled back, water soaking through the back of her coat as she hit the floor. Groaning, Hat Kid pushed herself back up to find Vanessa hadn't moved an inch.

Her fists clenched, her twitchy lips barely keeping her frustration locked up tight. Fine. If she wanted to be that way, she could stay here for all Hat Kid cared! She turned away to make her escape.

And then the world decided it had left her alone for far too long, and a piece of wood came crashing down to block her path.

Hat Kid cried out. She stepped forward to pull it aside, but flames leaped up from it like the heads of a pack of snakes. Again, her fingers hardened in their frozen shell, but before she could move, she noticed a blue glow coming from underneath.

A cold breeze trickled in. All the flames around it flickered and faded away as inch by inch, bits of ice stuck out beneath it. The air snapped. For a second, the glow tightened into a shining white light, and a huge ice crystal burst out of the ground and pushed it aside.

Hat Kid looked back. Her face lit up as she saw Vanessa get to her feet, her hand outstretched toward the tower of ice. Her teeth were clenched, and her steps were wobbly, but still, she was moving.

"Stupid girl," she hissed. "You just can't leave me alone, can you?"

Hat Kid stared up at her. That sounded mean, but she'd done good, right?

Vanessa returned her stare with an even meaner glare. "You're not just going to stand there and stare, are you?"

"No!" Even as she shook her head, Hat Kid couldn't stop the smallest of smiles from tugging at her lips. "Follow me!"

* * *

**Something something, two girls in a bakery. That's a pretty bad one-liner, but no one's around to hear it, so who cares?!**

**Chapter used to be a lot longer, but a lot of it didn't work for me. I've been thinking about changing up my schedules, so if the next chapter doesn't appear on a Saturday, it'll probably appear on a Tuesday.**


	17. World 3-?: Hellfire

The door burst open, ripped off its hinges by a powerful blast of yellow. Hat Kid stepped through, Vanessa on her heels as the walls came crashing down behind them. A shower of sparks nibbled at her feet. Hat Kid ducked under them, throwing herself into the blue carpet.

Heat washed over her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw bits of wood scatter around her, lighting small fires wherever they landed.

A hand grabbed the scruff of her coat. Hat Kid barely had time to complain before Vanessa dragged her back to her feet.

"Hurry," she said, as if Hat Kid didn't know already.

Taking a look around, Hat Kid was surprised to find herself back in the blue room. Same blue walls, same blue bed in the corner. A blank painting hung by the side.

A frown crept onto her face. She was sure this was the door to the hall. Last she'd seen, there was only one way out of the attic.

Then again, she'd woken up here before. Maybe she was wrong.

"Where's the hall?" she asked, and she turned to Vanessa.

Vanessa frowned. "The hall? Is that where we're headed?"

"It's where the door in the attic is supposed to go, right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is." Vanessa blinked, and her lips pulled down. "How did we end up here?"

"I don't know!" Shaking her head, Hat Kid grabbed Vanessa's dress. "Nevermind. Let's go this way!" she said, and she dragged her toward the door on the other side.

With a thwack, Hat Kid's umbrella forced it open. The red bedroom stood before them. The bed still sat in the middle of the room, and by it, the moonlight cut trails of silver into the wall of flames through the windows. Hat Kid steered Vanessa toward them.

Dust rained down on her hat. Hat Kid looked up, and her eyes widened as the ceiling buckled above them.

She skidded to a halt. Wood came rushing down before her, blocking their exit. Hat Kid growled in frustration. She turned instead to the next door. Her umbrella smashed it to bits in a single swing, and Hat Kid charged through back into the hall.

Only, it didn't lead into the hall. Hat Kid blinked, confused to find herself back in the blue bedroom.

She glanced back at where she remembered the blue room to be. She hadn't run in a circle by accident, had she?

Something bit her toes. Hat Kid yelped, jumping back. At her feet lay a circle of tiny sparks, the same ones that had chased her out of the attic.

A horrible thought wormed its way into her head. She stamped it out, just as she smothered the small fires beneath her boot. Vanessa yelped as Hat Kid dragged her to the door again.

Once again, a bright red carpet rolled out beneath her feet. Hat Kid stopped. Clenching her teeth shut, she held back a frustrated groan.

_It's like the house doesn't want us to leave!_ she thought, and she dragged a hand over her face.

Growling, Hat Kid looked at the door they'd come from. Then she looked at the other door. She glanced at where the windows had been, then at the fire burning all around them.

_Where do we go now?_

As much as she hated to say it, she didn't know. She'd been chasing after the timepiece for all this time. Now that she had it, she had to get out, but which way was she supposed to go?

Hat Kid reached up into her hat. Her fingers emerged with a bubbly yellow vial in her grasp, and she hurled it at the wall.

The ceiling groaned. Hat Kid threw herself to the side, just as a wooden beam tore through the floor beside her.

Another potion appeared in her hand. She threw that at the wall too, then another. Explosion after explosion ripped into the wall. Bits of wood scattered everywhere, until finally, Hat Kid could see a hole begin to form.

She reached into her hat again and pulled out a fizzy yellow bottle. She shook it. Allowed the bubbles to scatter in the mix. Taking aim at the hole, Hat Kid let it fly.

A pillar of ice shot up in front of her. The glass shattered over it, and the mix dissolved into a yellow cloud. Curious, Hat Kid glanced at Vanessa.

The mist falling off her fingertips glowed bright red in the firelight burning all around them, stretched out toward the wall. Slowly, Vanessa clenched her fingers shut. The walls creaked, and when Hat Kid turned back, she saw the ice bury itself into the wall.

Cracks spread out around them. Chunks of the wall fell to the floor as glittering blue spikes grew out from inside. Vanessa jerked her hand back, and with a groan, the entire wall came crumbling down.

The blue room was waiting for them. Over the bed and through the other door, a long table stood in beyond it. Hat Kid glanced back at the way they'd come, and all she found was a smoldering pile of wooden scraps blocking the door.

"Uh... Thank you..." Hat Kid said, glancing over at Vanessa.

Vanessa looked surprised. She scanned around herself, at the fire burning all around them, before pointing to herself. "You're welcome?"

Without a moment to lose, Hat Kid jumped through the hole. She sprinted across the blue bedroom, and she stumbled into the dining hall. She gazed out to the right, where the windows would have been. On the other side of the wall, pinpricks of torchlight followed her as if they could see her through the glass.

Hat Kid's umbrella shattered it into a million pieces. Behind her, she heard Vanessa trip as they leaped through the window. She looked back in concern.

Vanessa flung her hand out, freezing over a hole in the floor Hat Kid hadn't noticed before. Her boots squeaked as they stepped over the slippery surface. Her hands flew out in front of her, and suddenly, she found herself skidding toward the wall.

In an instant, the hat on top of her head changed into a fluffy blue one Her arms flashed white, and a thick layer of ice crawled over them. Letting her boots carry her forward, Hat Kid reached back, and she smashed through the wall.

They passed into the kitchen, sprinted through the piano room. The bathroom walls stood in their way, but Hat Kid bashed them in too. Together, they stormed through the game room, weaving around burning tables and falling shelves.

Then, as they stepped into the hall, a glimmer caught her eye. At the very end, the tiniest shred of moonlight peered at them through the door.

Hat Kid's lips stretched into a grin. She ran faster, the way out almost within reach. The floor shook. She could hear the faint sounds of the walls crashing down on the floor above them. Still, she pushed her legs to go faster. Just a few more feet and they would be out of this evil house.

"Look out!"

She felt Vanessa's hand slam into her back, and Hat Kid tumbled over the floor. She jumped to her feet just in time to see a wooden avalanche break through the ceiling, pinning Vanessa beneath.

She gasped. Vanessa turned herself around, and she clamped her hand on the wood. Hat Kid heard it crackle, saw mist rise up from around her, but when nothing happened, she started to really worry.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concern creeping into her voice. "Why can't you make any ice?"

"It's too hot," Vanessa replied. She grabbed the wood again, but all Hat Kid could see was mist curling around her fingers.

Hat Kid rushed back to her side. When Vanessa saw her get down to try to lift the debris off her, she hissed.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you out of here!"

Vanessa looked at her, then at the door beyond. Something flashed across her eyes. "You have to go."

"I already told you, I'm not going to leave you alone!"

Hat Kid yelped, and she stepped back to avoid Vanessa's swipe. Vanessa swung again, and this time, the tiniest sharp of ice formed between them.

Finally, Vanessa collapsed. "Why?" she muttered, her voice barely audible over the crackling fires all around them. "Why won't you leave? I'm letting you go, and you're staying behind to help me? Why can't you go, like everyone else?"

Hat Kid paused. "It's not right," she said after a moment of thought. "It's not right what everyone else did. It's not right what you did either, but leaving you all alone when you needed help is worse."

Letting a layer of ice take shape around her arm, Hat Kid bashed it against the wooden rubble.

The floor shook beneath them. A crack appeared in the floor. Hat Kid glanced down, and when she saw the floor starting to break, she knew she wouldn't be able to break through in time.

The gears in her mind turned, desperate for an idea. Her eyes drifted down to her umbrella, tucked back beneath her cape.

With a click, the top came loose, dragging its chain behind it. "Grab this," Hat Kid said, and she clamped it around Vanessa's arm.

She gazed back at the door. The fire had begun to spread into the hall, creeping in to block her way. She reached up, and she grabbed the rim of her Ice Hat.

Another flash lit up the room, and as it faded, her Sprint Hat took its place. Hat Kid jumped forward, and in a puff of smoke, her scooter appeared in front of her.

Grabbing the handlebars in one hand, her umbrella in the other, Hat Kid drove forward. The chain snapped tight. Her scooter's engine roared as she sped it up. Behind her, she saw Vanessa reach for the chain with her other hand and grab on tight.

There was a snap. Wood gave away, and with a cry, Vanessa popped out. Hat Kid's scooter took off toward the door in a burst of speed. The flames stretched up to grab her, to slow her down, but she drove straight through them.

The moon grew brighter. The door drew closer. Hat Kid closed her eyes, turned away, and braced for impact.

Bits and pieces of the door scattered into the snow as Hat Kid's scooter turned back into magic dust, sending her flying. White rose up to meet her, and before she knew it, Hat Kid found her face stuffed with snow.

Beside her, she heard someone else crash into the snowbank. Hat Kid lifted her head, flakes of ice dripped down her face, and to her relief, she found Vanessa lying in the snow, coughing out a puff of mist. A little burnt, a little dazed, but still in one piece.

They were free.

* * *

**We're almost there.**

**Next chapter will arrive sometime within the next two weeks. It could be as soon as next Tuesday, or it could be as late as the Saturday after next week.**

**Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe.**


	18. World 3-4: Ever After

Hat Kid and Vanessa sat in the snow, watching the manor burn. Side by side, they let the warmth of the flames wash over them beneath the silver light of the ever-present moon, waiting for someone else to break the silence.

Beside her, Vanessa shivered. That surprised Hat Kid. She'd always seemed fine back in the manor, even with all the cold mist dripping from her fingers.

"Was it always this cold?" Vanessa asked, breathing out in a cloud of sparkling mist. "I've never remembered being this cold out here."

"Well, you didn't come outside a lot, right?" At Vanessa's slow nod, Hat Kid said, "Well, maybe you forgot how cold it was."

"I see." Vanessa swept her gaze over the ice lying all around them, and when she caught a look of herself, she made a face.

"And was my hair always this... messy?" She ran a hand through her tangled blonde hair matted with ash and dust.

"It was very dark in your home," Hat Kid said. "Maybe you just didn't get a good look."

"I see."

Silence settled over them again. Another piece of the house snapped off with a creak, and it disappeared into the fire in a shower of flying embers.

"When did all these walls of ice get here?" Vanessa said suddenly.

Hat Kid glanced around. The towering walls of ice were hard to miss, and they were one of the first things she'd seen when she'd come in here. Though if those nice pictures of a town sitting around the manor were real, it wasn't always that way.

"I don't remember making anything like this," Vanessa muttered. "There was a town here, I remember that. What happened to it?" A worried frown spread over her lips. "I... I didn't do anything to them. Did I?"

Hat Kid looked away, taking a moment to think. Subcon Forest was filled with ghosts and spirits. And it made sense that they were alive before that, so maybe...

She shook her head. Maybe it was true, but she couldn't say that! Besides, they were all far away from Vanessa's manor. It wasn't like she was the only monster living in the forest.

"No, it's not your fault!" she said. "They're too far away. If anything happened to them, it wouldn't be because of you, it would be because of–"

She shut her mouth before she could say another word. Carefully, she glanced over at Vanessa to see if she had heard. Vanessa's eyes met hers. For a second, Hat Kid was afraid she would get angry, but all she saw in her gaze was sadness.

Vanessa looked away first, and she let out a sigh. For the third time, silence settled between the two of them, heavy like a blanket of ice.

A cold wind stirred the snow on the floor as the crackling of flames continued in the distance. Hat Kid wanted to say something to cheer her up, but no matter how hard she tried to dig for the right words, she found nothing.

"Does he ever talk about me?"

Hat Kid didn't need to see her face to know she was sad. "No," she replied. "I've never even heard of you before."

"That figures. I suppose I've burned all my bridges there."

"Bridges?" Hat Kid frowned. "Is that why I have to walk all over that icky swamp? Is it because you burned all the bridges here?"

"What are you talking about?" Vanessa asked, and she frowned too.

"There's all this yucky mud in the swamp out in the woods that goes squish if you step in it and makes your shoes dirty. Did you break all the bridges that were supposed to go over them?"

"No, that's not what I–" Vanessa cut herself off. Her eyes widened in some secret understanding, and when Hat Kid glanced over at her, confused, she found a smile worming its way to her face.

Then she laughed. Not harsh and biting like before, but breezy like a cold draft gently brushing snowflakes against her face. She laughed, falling back into the snow with a thud, all while Hat Kid only grew more confused by the second.

"What? What's so funny?" she asked.

"It's–it's nothing," Vanessa squeezed out between bouts of giggling.

Hat Kid still didn't understand, but she was happy to let Vanessa keep laughing. If there was anything they needed right now, it was a reason to be happy, and as Vanessa calmed down, her smile stayed on her face.

"Thank you for that," she said, and she gave Hat Kid a grateful look. "I can't remember the last time I've felt this happy, not since..."

The corners of her lips fell a tiny bit. Another crack echoed over the frosty cavern, and another piece of the manor fell into the fire.

Hat Kid tugged at her sleeve. When Vanessa glanced over at her, she smiled. "Hey, don't look so sad!" she chirped. "Maybe you can't see your prince anymore, but you have me, don't you?"

"Yeah..." Slowly, Vanessa smiled with her, and she repeated more firmly, "Yeah! I don't need my prince! I still have you." She paused. "You promise won't leave me too, won't you?"

"Um..." Hat Kid grabbed the Sprint Hat off her head and bunched it up in her hands. "Not forever–" When she saw panic rise on Vanessa's face, she quickly added, "but I'm still going to visit you lots! And I'll do my best to make sure you're happy whenever I go!"

"Oh." Vanessa fell back, and she huffed. "I suppose that is all I can ask for."

"Hey, don't look so sad! I can still stay for a little while before I have to go." Hat Kid jumped to her feet, bursting with energy. "Come on! Everything's changed so much since you locked yourself inside! Don't you want to come and see?"

"I'll come, I'll come," Vanessa chuckled, and she pushed herself to her feet.

She stumbled for a bit, taking a second to steady herself. Once she stopped swaying, she brushed herself off, and at Hat Kid's frantic motioning, she followed her toward the opening in the ice walls.

Hat Kid was more than happy to let her go first. As she turned to follow her, the timepiece slipped out of her coat. It landed with a soft crunch, to her immense relief, the snow having cushioned its fall.

She knelt down to pick it up, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and tucked it back behind her cape. Her eyes strayed to the night sky, where her ship waited for her. Even with the moon brightly shining down on her, she couldn't catch a glimpse of it, but she knew it was there.

She still needed to get back to it. The whole reason she had come here in the first place was to collect her timepieces, and once she had them, she needed to go home.

But it couldn't hurt to stay a little longer. That much, she wanted to believe.

**Fin(?)**

* * *

**And so it ends, for now at least.**

**I'm sure there's not many of you who've stuck around from beginning to end, but if you have, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Really, it couldn't have been easy to stay with me, through all the rewrites, rebranding, and hiatuses, it's a big mess I wish I didn't have to go through in the first place. I'm so sorry it took me this long to get my stuff together.**

**And if you aren't one of the unfortunate few who've had to see me stumble through the story chapter after chapter, I thank you for putting the time to read my stuff. It really means a lot to me to see that people like reading what I churn out. Some of these chapters really fought me word for word, so it's nice to see that people like what comes out in the end.**

**If there's one thing I regret about it all, one thing I'd probably take away from all the trials and tribulations, is that I really wish the first half lined up better with the second half. From what I've heard, people really seem to like the first half, and I thought the second half came out well, even if no one else liked it, it's just that from the middle onward, it just takes such a heel-turn that they both feel like two different stories.**

**Regarding any follow-up stuff, since you know I gotta milk these stories for all they're worth, I'm thinking of taking a small break from Hat in Time related stuff for a while. I will do a follow-up for this and Moonshine and Spirits, but I might need some time to rest and make sure I actually know what I'm going to go for this time.**

**Again, thank you to anyone who reviewed/commented/showed any sort of support along the way. I had fun writing this, and I do hope to do more in the future. Until then, I wish you all well, and stay safe!**


End file.
